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PRESIDENT QUINCY'S SPEECH 



MINOEITY REPORT OF MR. BANCROFT. 



SPEECH 

OF 

JOSIAH QUINCY, 

PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 

BEFORE THE 

BOARD OF OVERSEERS OF THAT INSTITUTION, 

FEBRUARY 25, 1845, 

ON 

THE MINORITY REPORT 

OF THE 

COMMITTEE OF VISITATION, 
PRESENTED TO THAT BOARD BY GEORGE BANCROFT, ESQ., 

FEBRUARY 6, 1845. 

BOSTON: 

CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 
1845. 



y 



v^V 



CAMBRIDGE: 
METCALF AND COMPANY, 

PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 



PREFACE 



The subjoined Speech was made under circumstances 
which I deem it proper briefly to explain. It is now pub- 
lished, in order that the views I entertain with regard to the 
several topics touched upon in it may be known to the public, 
and particularly to the friends of Harvard College. 

In the year 1843, George Bancroft, Esq., a politician 
well known to the people of this Commonwealth, obtained a 
seat at the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, through 
the temporary ascendency of the political party to which he 
belongs, with the aid, as was stated at the time, of Calvinistic 
votes. In that and the succeeding year, three Calvinists, two 
clergymen and one layman, were elected into the Board, chief- 
ly, as was also then stated, by the union of the same influences. 

On the 6th of February last, Mr. Bancroft made an attack 
upon Harvard College, in the form of a Minority Report 
from the Committee of Visitation, containing statements which 
I could not but deem false, and insinuations relative to the con- 
dition of the seminary and the labors of its Professors, which I 
knew to be unjust. 

In this Report, he animadverted, in terms of reprobation, 
on the sectarian character of Harvard College. The course 
of his remarks on this subject was forthwith followed and sup- 
ported by two of the Calvinistic members who had obtained 
their seats at the Board as above mentioned ; the one of them 
giving the weight of his political, and the other the weight of 
his religious, character to Mr. Bancroft's views. It became 
apparent, after this concurrence, that, unless openly and au- 
thoritatively counteracted, Mr. Bancroft's Minority Report 



IV PREFACE. 

would go forth to the world with the influence of this combined 
sanction, and be received as truth. Hence the duty of ex- 
posing what I considered false and fallacious in it seemed 
to be devolved upon me, in my then official station, by a 
necessity which I could not evade. The subjoined Speech 
was the result. 

Being at that time President of Harvard University, and 
being led in the course of my argument to refer to political and 
religious relations then existing in the Board of Overseers, I 
was unavoidably restrained and embarrassed by my official 
position. This state of things is now changed. In accord- 
ance with a determination, long since made, to relinquish, 
after the present academic year, my connection with Harvard 
College, and my personal arrangements for the removal of 
my residence to Boston having long ago been completed, 
I have resigned the office of President of the College, and 
now retain only temporarily the superintendence of the insti- 
tution, at the special request of the Corporation. 

I am now, therefore, and intend henceforth to be, a private 
citizen. I have thought it proper, however, to keep back this 
publication, until my resignation was accepted, and my real 
position understood by the public ; in order that it should be 
known by all to be made by me as a private citizen^ on my 
sole responsibility J independently of official duties or connec- 
tions, and prepared without the suggestion, consultation, or 
knowledge of any member of any body, party, or sect, literary, 
political, or religious. In conformity with the liberty afforded 
me by this new position in which I am placed, I have not 
hesitated to give to the several topics of the subjoined Speech, 
having a theological bearing, a development and directness 
of application which my present relations to society justify 
and enjoin. 

As in the course of the subjoined remarks my sense of duty 
has compelled me to speak without reserve of Calvinism and 
its influences, so far as they are brought to bear upon Har- 
vard College, it may possibly be supposed that they have 
been dictated by hostility to that creed or its professors. 
Nothing can be farther from my thought or design. Where 



PREFACE. V 

Calvinism acts in its natural sphere, and, while defending itself, 
treats with Christian charity the opinions of those who differ, 
both that faith and those who maintain it have my honor and 
respect ; and I would say and do nothing to diminish either its 
power or that of those who profess its doctrines. 

It is not Calvinism, when directed to Christian ends and 
using Christian means, that I deprecate. It is Calvinism when 
it seeks worldly power by worldly means ; — it is Calvinism 
when it embarrasses by misrepresentations a great literary insti- 
tution, for the purpose of getting that institution under its con- 
trol ; — it is Calvinism when it strikes hands with politics, 
willing to take the chance of putting the institution into the 
hands of the politician, for the sake of the chance of getting it 
into its own ; — it is Calvinism thus operating and thus aiming, 
that I deem it my duty to endeavour to make my fellow- 
citizens understand. 

It is the misfortune of Harvard College to have religion and 
politics combined very intimately with the other influences of 
its constitution ; and all history shows, that, when thus brought 
together, and party struggles for power commence, the quality 
of the religious element is always debased^ and the quality of 
the political never improved. 

By the constitution of the College, its religious influences 
were made to depend upon those, which, from time to time, 
might prevail in the town of Boston and its vicinity, and in 
certain specified Congregational churches there situated. In 
the course of time liberal religious views predominated in these 
churches and this vicinity, and about the beginning of the pres- 
ent century the Calvinistic clergy of Boston and its environs 
found that they had lost the control of the College. 

A few of the more ambitious of this clergy were naturally 
deeply affected by this deprivation of power, and immedi- 
ately set themselves to persuade the Calvinists in other parts 
of the Commonwealth, that it was a deadly blow aimed at 
the Calvinistic faith ; and for a time succeeded in impressing 
them with the apprehension that Harvard College was spe- 
cially directing its influence to the undermining of that faith. 
Time, observation, and acquaintance with facts have, I have 



VI PREFACE. 

reason to believe, greatly diminished this fear, among Cal- 
vinists in general. Honest and unambitious Calvinists in 
other parts of the Commonwealth begin to understand the 
cause of this excessive zeal for their sect, put forth by a 
small party of Boston Calvinists. They are satisfied, that, 
under the influences which now prevail at Harvard Col- 
lege, its concerns are managed with fairness in respect of 
other denominations, that no efforts are made for the propa- 
gation of any peculiar religious views in the College, that all 
sects are treated equally well there, and that it is the intention 
and endeavour to conduct the seminary exclusively as a liter- 
ary institution. I have reason to believe, from the language 
of some distinguished Calvinists, and from the altered conduct 
of others, that their prejudices concerning the religious influ- 
ences of Harvard College have become greatly softened. The 
learned and faithful Professors of the Theological Institution 
at Andover have shown of late years an increased confidence 
in those who conduct the College, and are, I have reason to 
think, satisfied that their efforts are not specially directed to 
propagate their own religious faith, or to undermine that of 
others. Those Professors, faithful to their own creed, do not 
think, as I apprehend, that this fidelity requires them to be un- 
just to the honest belief and fair conduct of others. Young men 
are no longer warned, at Andover, to avoid Harvard as though 
it were a seat of infidel propagandists. The learned and liberal 
Principal of Phillips Academy in that place (Calvinist as I sup- 
pose him to be) does not hesitate to encourage young men to 
come to Harvard. His intercourse with the Professors of Har- 
vard College is that of a gentleman, a scholar, and a Christian. 
The same acknowledgments are due to the learned and cath- 
olic Professors of the Baptist Institution at Newton, whose 
zeal and fidelity for their own religious views do not prevent 
them from evincing a confidence in the fairness with which 
Harvard College is conducted in respect to other sects. 

It is the fate of Harvard College, as I have above inti- 
mated, to be cast, by the constitution of its Board of Over- 
seers, into the very trough of a politico-theologico sea, which 
has tossed that seminary in successive periods of its history, 



PREFACE. 



always to its injury, sometimes nearly to its destruction. In 
consequence of party spirit in politics and party spirit in re- 
ligion, sometimes in hostility, sometimes in coalition, con- 
testing for power, or endeavouring to oppress political rivals or 
religious opponents, the prosperity of the College has been 
mischievously affected, from the days of Dunster to the pres- 
ent, its literary advancement obstructed, and the peace and 
happiness of its governors and instructors, at diiFerent periods, 
disturbed or destroyed. 

No object has been nearer to my heart, or occupied more 
assiduously my endeavours, while I have been President of 
Harvard College, than to give no cause for excitement to 
either of the elements which are included in the constitution of 
this seminary. Those endeavours have been faithfully and 
earnestly seconded by every member of the Corporation, and 
by all the faculties presiding over the Academic, Law, and 
Divinity Schools ; and I had flattered myself they had been 
not wholly without success. Perceiving, however, by the 
events of the last session of the Board of Overseers, that 
those elements are again in action, and by combination have 
gained an increased power, I have deemed it important for the 
interest of the College to have their effects on its prosperity 
historically presented to its friends and the public. To this end, 
I made preparation to trace the consequences of this constitu- 
tion, in which the seeds of political and religious controversy 
are scattered with no sparing hand, through the various stages 
of the College history, and to connect the result of my inquiries 
with this publication. But after proceeding some way in my 
investigation, I found that the subject belonged to a work of a 
higher and more permanent character than the present. Such 
a work it is my intention, as soon as leisure permits, to pre- 
pare and offer to the public. 

Contrary to all the habits, feelings, and intentions of my 
life, I have been drawn, as I have already said, by an irre- 
sistible sense of duty, to make the subjoined publication, 
notwithstanding it savors of theological controversy, to which 
I have ever had not so much a dislike as an utter antipathy. 
It is not, however, my intention to reply to any animadver- 



Vlll PREFACE. 

sions it may produce, whether with name or anonymous, unless 
some of the facts, on which the views stated in this publi- 
cation are based, should be authoritatively denied. In such 
case, I may possibly, however reluctantly, deem it my duty 
to make some additional statements and remarks. 

JOSIAH QUINCY. 

Cambridge, May 15, 1845. 



SPEECH. 



On Tuesday, the 25th of February, 1845, the Board 
of Overseers being assembled in the Senate-chamber, 
his Excellency Governor Briggs introduced the busi- 
ness of the meeting by remarking, that the report of 
the minority of the Visiting Committee of the Board of 
Overseers had been referred to several committees, 
and he then called upon them for their respective re- 
ports. 

Upon this, Mr Quincy (President of Harvard Uni- 
versity) rose, and asked for information concerning 
the position of the subject then before the Board. 
The state of things, as he understood it, was, that the 
minority report, although formally parcelled out to 
several committees, was yet, in fact, now on the table, 
and was as much the subject of debate as though its 
parts had not been thus referred. 

Mr. Quincy said he made this inquiry because he 
was under some embarrassment as to his course. He 
wished to make some remarks on that report, and 
he earnestly desired to have an opportunity to offer 
them before the committees had made their sever- 
al reports. What those reports would be he had no 
knowledge ; and he had no wish or intention to say 
one word concerning them, whatever they might be. 
He did wish, however, to animadvert upon the report 
of the minority of the Visiting Committee, and he 
1 



foresaw, that, if he postponed his remarks until the 
presentation of the reports of the committees to whom 
it had been referred, his strictures would appear to the 
public as being aimed at the particular report which 
might then be under debate, or at the resolution 
recommended by it, than which nothing would be 
farther from his intention. His strong wish was to be 
heard on the original minority report, and on that 
only, and also before the reports of the other commit- 
tees should be made. 

After some debate, liberty to speak was granted 
to Mr. Quincy. Commencing with some general ex- 
pressions of reluctance to address the Board of Over- 
seers, Mr. Quincy proceeded thus : — 

Notwithstanding my repugnance to this task, it 
was impossible for me to permit the report of the 
minority of the Visiting Committee (Mr. Bancroft's) to 
pass this Board in silence, without feeling that I should 
thereby neglect to fulfil an imperious duty, — an official 
duty. I have not, however, risen for the purpose of 
opposing investigation into the affairs of the College. 
Far from repining, I rejoice at it. I believe that the 
better the actual state of Harvard College is under- 
stood, the more satisfied the public will be with it. 
I complain only of the spirit in which the inquiry has 
been instituted, and of the manner in which it has 
been maintained. I do not deprecate the measures 
taken, or any of their probable results. 

My remarks will be directed solely to the report of 
the minority of the Visiting Committee, which I regard 
as containing assertions wholly groundless, intimations 
gratuitous and unfounded, and schemes of improve- 
ment impracticable and unjust. 



The minority report begins with declaring its utter 
dissent to the raising of the qualifications for admis- 
sion to Harvard College, which it considers as a 
scheme to exclude candidates from country schools and 
open the seminary somewhat exclusively to those from 
Boston schools. At first I was at a loss to imagine 
where the author of this report got the notion that 
any such project was contemplated ; but I now find 
it was from the report of the chairman of the Visit- 
ing Committee. Where this gentleman obtained 
it I know not. I am certain it was not from any 
member of the Faculty or of the Corporation, for they 
have no such intention. I do not mean, that, when- 
ever the state of the preparatory schools will permit, 
and the Overseers shall deliberately consent, the Cor- 
poration and Faculty would not be willing, nay, 
very desirous, to raise Harvard College somewhat 
nearer to the standard of the European Universi- 
ties. But they have now no such plan. No, Sir. 
The Faculty have too much difliculty and hard work 
to squeeze into College, at the present standard, some 
of the candidates who now offer. They have no de- 
sire to increase their diflSculties in that direction. 

The President in his annual report had stated, that, 
"in point of disposition to good order, gentlemanly de- 
meanour, and assiduity in study, the members of the in- 
stitution were, it is believed, never more exemplary ; 
leaving, generally speaking, litde more, in either respect, 
to be hoped, or even to be wished." Here was a 
statement made by the President oflicially and on his 
own responsibility. It was either true or false ; and 
it was the duty of the Visiting Committee either to 
deny it or to let it alone, and suffer the community to 
believe it or disbelieve it, according as they had or 



had not confidence in the statement of the President. 
What does the author of the minority report? He 
does neither the one thing nor the other; but in 
effect says, " Though the President has made this 
statement, / as a member of the Visiting Committee am. 
not prepared to confirm it,^^ Well, are you pre- 
pared to deny it ? That is the question. If he was 
not prepared to deny it, why say any thing about 
it ? Why use a form of expression which carries the 
force of a secret disbelief, which he is wiUing to 
intimate, but dares not assert? Why use a form of 
expression which is pregnant with an insinuation ? I 
should have honored him, if he had come out manfully 
with a direct contradiction ; but as he has used such 
a noncommittal insinuation, my feelings are just the 
reverse. 

In preparing his annual report, particularly the 
short, general statement with which it is introduced, 
the President is always deeply sensible that he acts 
under great responsibility ; and never admits any thing, 
in the nature of assertion, which he does not consider 
himself perfectly able and ready to maintain, in case 
scrutiny should be instituted. 

The present year, when that duty was to be per- 
formed, he examined every record of merit, every book 
of discipline, and made all the inquiries necessary to 
enable him to attain an exact comprehension of the 
state of the College. He found, by the concurrent 
testimony of the professors and tutors, and of the mem- 
bers of the parietal board, that the state of the College 
had been now, for eighteen months, highly satisfac- 
tory ; that few or none of those annoyances had 
occurred to which the officers of all Colleges are sub- 
ject, no indications of personal or general discontent, 



no noisy assemblages of an exceptionable character; 
that the prevailing disposition shown by the young 
men had been orderly, their behaviour towards the 
tutors and parietal officers gentlemanly. During the 
sixteen years, in which I have been President of the 
seminary, I had never been able to present Harvard 
College in a state, as I thought, more gratifying and 
unexceptionable ; and I made a draft of the introduc- 
tory report in conformity with that opinion. Accor- 
ding to my custom, I read it to the whole Faculty 
of the College. When the paragraph was read, which 
the author of the minority report (Mr. Bancroft) has 
informed the public " he was not prepared to con- 
firm," one of the Faculty said to me, " That lan- 
guage is strong,''^ I replied, "/if is so; but is it 
not true?'' He answered that it was. I put the 
same question to every other member of the Faculty ; 
and they gave me the same answer. " Then, " I re- 
plied, " I will utter it. For, in my opinion, it is as 
much a duty, and is as useful, to acknowledge and 
be just to the virtues, good conduct, and gentleman- 
ly demeanour of the young men under our care, as it 
is to be severe on their follies, and to give publicity 
to their delinquencies." 

Such is the history of a paragraph which the au- 
thor of the minority report has told the world he is 
not prepared to confirm; and which, notwithstanding 
his lurking insinuation, I here repeat. 

We come now to the great outcry about expen- 
ses. That the expenses of the College diminish the 
number of undergraduates at Harvard is almost a 
universal opinion and subject of lamentation. On this 
point three things seem to be taken for granted by 
every body : — 



1st. That the expenses of the College have greatly 
increased of late, — and that, indeed, very recently. 

2d. That they are in their nature very unreason- 
able. 

3d. That, if these College expenses were dimin- 
ished, the number of undergraduates would be in- 
creased proportionably. 

Now I am not a believer in either of these opin- 
ions ; and although I grant that it may be proper, and 
probably expedient, to reduce the College expenses, 
yet I am no believer either in the necessity or in the 
anticipated result; and, as I think, for very strong 
reasons. 

These " College expenses " (emphatically so called) 
are strictly those charges which the College makes 
for certain specified services or accommodations, and 
which are incident, more or less, to all Colleges ; and 
are understood to cover strictly those charges which 
are peculiarly and exclusively incident to life there. 
They are called, indifferendy, " expenses of instruc- 
tion," " expenses of tuition," or " College expenses." 

As to the first point, that the expenses of the 
College have greatly increased of late, and that very 
recently, — I thought it utterly untrue, and was there- 
fore greatly surprised to find the following statement 
in the minority report (by Mr. Bancroft) : — 

"The expenses of tuition have been increased at 
least Jifty per cent, beyond what they formerly were, 
and, for some of the classes, thirty-three and a third 
per cent, beyond what they were when the under- 
signed was a student. " 

An assertion made so deliberately, and under cir- 
cumstances of great responsibility, I began to think 
must have some color for it, notwithstanding my pre- 



vious opinion to the contrary. I thought it, how- 
ever, worth the trouble to inquire into the accuracy 
of it, and directed the Steward of the College 
to prepare a table of the charges at Harvard Col- 
lege to Mr. Bancroft (exclusive of board, text-books, 
and fuel), for the four Academic years 1813-14 to 
1816-17; also a table of the actual charges to a 
student for the four Academic years 1840 -41 to 1843 
- 44. The following is the result : — 

Mr. Bancroft's College charges, stricdy so 
called, amounted, on an average, for the four 
years 1813-14 to 1816-17, to . . ^95.88 

The average of College charges in the 
College bills for the four years 1840-41 to 
1843-44 was 93.16 

Difference 2.72 

Making the expenses of Harvard College at the pres- 
ent day just tico dollars and seventy-two cents less 
per annum than the expenses at the time Mr. Bancroft 
was in College.* 

There is, however, an element in Mr. Bancroft's 
quarter-bills, denominated fines and assessments, which 
now never enters into our quarter-bills, amounting in 
his four years to $ 3.24. This, being deducted, would 
reduce the charges in his College bills to ^92.64, 
and consequently leaves the actual expense at the 
present day just fifty-two cents more than it was dur- 
ing the time Mr. Bancroft was at College. The for- 
mer is probably the true principle of difference. 

Here Mr. Bancroft called Mr. Quincy to order. He 

* See Appendix, A. 



8 

said that the President had put into his hands the 
documents on which he was commenting, and he had 
called the President to order because he was deceiving 
and misleading the Board ; that the documents of the 
President supported entirely the assertion in his (Mr. 
Bancroft's) report. " I there stated, " said he, " that 
the expenses for tuition were fifty per cent., or thirty 
three and a third per cent., higher now in College than 
they were when I was there; and the documents pro- 
duced show that the * instruction fee ' when I was in 
College was either forty-four or fifty-six dollars a 
year, and the present College bills show that the fee 
for instruction is seventy five dollars a year ; and that 
is thirty-three and a third or fifty per cent, higher than 
it was in my time." 

Mr. Quincy, in reply: — If that is the ground the 
gentleman is about to assume, he is w^elcome to all 
the converts he can make to his new position. His 
present ground is a mere quibble. His language was, 
" The expenses of tuition have been increased at least 
fifty per cent, beyond what they were formerl}', and, 
for some of the classes, thirty-three and a third per 
cent, beyond what they were when the undersigned 
was a student." The term " expenses of tuition " is 
a form of expression equivalent to the term " College 
expenses." It includes the instruction fee, and, in ad- 
dition to it, all the other peculiar charges of College 
life. If used, then, only as equivalent to " instruction 
fee," it was used in an equivocal sense, and was thus, 
whether intentionally or not, calculated to deceive the 
public, who certainly have understood it as convey- 
ing the idea that the cost of a College education has 
increased since the author of the minority report was 



9 

in College. Now, if, while the instruction fee has 
been increased, the other charges have been dimin- 
ished in proportion to that increase, the cost of educa- 
tion at Harvard would remain the same as formerly. 
This is in fact the case. For the documents adduced 
show that the cost of College education, instead of 
being higher, is about the same as in Mr. Bancroft's 
day. Besides, he had no means of comparing the 
" instruction fee " of his day with that of the present 
day ; because it so happens, that, in the College bills 
of the present day, that charge is combined with other 
items, — a bad practice, I admit, and I hope it will 
be altered, — and no man can tell, unless by guess, 
what the instruction fee exactly is at Harvard Col- 
lege. I therefore hold the gentleman to the meaning 
which he certainly conveyed by the term " expenses 
of tuition, " — namely, that all the College expenses^ 
strictly so called, are increased, at the present day, 
beyond what they were when he was in College. 

I have already shown that these expenses, so far 
from being increased fifty per cent., are in fact $ 2.72 
less per annum in our day, if you include all the 
charges in the quarter-bills in Mr. Bancroft's time ; 
and that, if you exclude certain charges, which were 
made then, and are not made now, the only increase 
is .52 cents per annum, instead of fifty per cent. 

Not content, however, with this result, I deemed 
it proper, and thought that perhaps it might be more 
satisfactory, to compare the aggregate of all the charges 
in the term-bills when Mr. Bancroft was in College 
with those at the present day. To this end, I di- 
rected the footings of Mr. Bancroft's quarter-bills, 
during the four years 1813-14 to 1816-17, to be 
stated in the form of a table ; but as Mr. Ban- 
2 



10 

croft was a clergyman's son, and was probably, and 
properly, economical in his habits, I had a similar ta- 
ble prepared from the quarter-bills of one of his 
classmates who might have felt himself less restricted 
in his expenditures. I also directed that the footings 
of the quarter-bills of some student who had gradu- 
ated in 1844 should be presented in the same form, 
taking special care to select some one who had roomed 
and boarded in commons every term of his College 
life, and to whom had been charged instruction, rent, 
special repairs, books, fuel, board, every item which 
makes part of what constitutes the entire expense of a 
College education at the present day. Well, Sir, it 
has been done, and here is the result. 

The aggregate of Mr. Bancroft's quarter-bills, dur- 
ing the four years he was in College, amounted to 
^815.39.* The aggregate of the College quarter- 
bills of a student, selected as 1 have stated, during 
the last four Academic years, was ^^ 783.18; and the 
difference was an excess of expense, amounting to 
^32.21, in Mr. Bancroft's bills, beyond that of the 
present day. The other comparison w^as still more 
decisive. The individual selected was Mr. Caleb 
Cushing. The aggregate of his bills was $ 1047.11, 
showing in this case an excess in the College ex- 
penses of $ 263.93 over those of the present day. 

I think I have proved, not only that the " College 
expenses," "tuition expenses," or "expenses of in- 
struction, " strictly so called, are materially the same, 
but that, notwithstanding the difference of the times, 
the entire aggregate of the expenses at Harvard is, 
in fact, less, instead of being greater, at the present 

* See Appendix, B. 



11 

day, than at the period when Mr. Bancroft was in 
College. What becomes, then, of those pathetic lamen- 
tations for the desertion of Harvard College, and of 
those piteous tears shed by Mr. Bancroft over " eight 
counties " of this Commonwealth, that are deprived 
of the privilege of sending their sons to Harvard Col- 
lege in consequence of the vast increase of College 
expenses since Mr. Bancroft's time ? 

But why is Harvard College deserted ? I deny the 
fact. Harvard College is not deserted. It has at this 
day more undergraduates than at any previous period 
of its existence, — one period only excepted, when, 
owing to the state of the times, and the distribution of a 
large amount of beneficiary money, under the express 
authority of the legislature, an uncommonly large num- 
ber were matriculated. " But, " the reply is, " the Col- 
lege is comparatively deserted, because it does not in- 
crease as other Colleges do. Look at Yale, which has 
394 undergraduates, while Harvard has only 254. See 
also Amherst, Brown, Williams, Dartmouth, — all fast 
advancing towards the numbers of Harvard." " Why," 
exclaims Mr. Bancroft, "are there 104 undergraduates 
from Boston and its suburbs, and only 80 from all the 
rest of the Commonwealth ? Why do eight counties of 
this Commonwealth send more Senators to the Board 
of Overseers, than their constituents send sons to Har- 
vard College ? " 

I answer, — extent of territory, number of inhabit- 
ants, number of Senators, neither one nor all of these 
are proper elements of comparison on this subject. 
The question is one of proportion of demand and 
supply. How many inhabitants of Massachusetts wish 
a high degree of education for their sons ? and of these 
how many are members of Harvard College ? 



12 

In the five Colleges which from their position and 
character are entitled to be regarded as competitors 
of Harvard, — namely, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, 
Williams, and Amherst, — there are 271 undergradu- 
ates from Massachusetts ; namely, 45 in Yale, 44 in 
Brown, 33 in Dartmouth, 60 in Williams, and 89 in 
Amherst. The average number of undergraduates 
from Massachusetts in these Colleges is 54 and a frac- 
tion. Harvard has 184, — that is, more than twice as 
many as Amherst, more than three times the number 
in Williams, more than four times that in Yale or 
Brown, five or six times as many as Dartmouth, and 
more than two thirds as many as all these united. 
Considering all the circumstances which operate upon 
the minds of parents in selecting Colleges for their 
sons, I think Harvard has its full proportion, and its 
friends have no cause for complaint or distress. 

But " why do so many citizens of Massachusetts 
send their sons elsewhere ? " 

I answer, there are four strong, efficient, and natu- 
ral reasons ; and not " College expenses," or " tuition 
expenses," technically so called. 1. Local prefer- 
ences. 2. Personal preferences. 3. Religious prefer- 
ences. 4. Those incidental temptations to expense, 
which are supposed to be greater at Harvard than in 
other Colleges. 

Every one of these causes operates in favor of each 
of the other Colleges. 

Parents love to have their children near home. Hence 
the inhabitants of those towns in Massachusetts near 
Providence send their sons to Brown. The same is 
the case with every other College. It is this prefer- 
ence which sends so many of the sons of Boston and 
its vicinity to Harvard College; and this with many 



13 

parents is quite as strong as their desire to have the 
advantage of a very high education. Then there are 
personal preferences, v^^hich operate strongly in favor of 
Brown and Yale. The parents themselves graduated 
at the one or the other, and men love to have their 
sons taught where they themselves were educated. 
Then there are religious preferences. Almost every 
religious sect also dreads, or affects to dread, what is 
called Unitarianism, and proclaims to the world that it 
is the great endeavour at Cambridge to propagate the 
tenets of that sect ; a charge, however, altogether false 
and unfounded. When to these general reasons is 
added a common opinion that the style of living, of 
fitting up rooms, and of dress, is somewhat more 
expensive than at other Colleges, we have enough 
reasons to account for the proportion of young men 
who go elsewhere, and to justify the opinion that it 
is not College expenses which produce this result. 
From my own experience, and it has been consider- 
able, / do not believe that a single individual was 
ever deterred from coming to Harvard on account of 
College expenses, technically so called, who had taken 
pains to inform himself what these expenses were, and 
ivhat were those at other Colleges, 

The average difference in the cost of an education 
at Harvard College and at either of the other Colleges 
mentioned is about $ 40. Now every person, who 
takes pains to inquire, will find that at almost every 
other College there are charges, for some item or 
other, not included in the published statement, but 
always in the bill; these, in many Colleges, are some- 
what high, and parents have complained, as it re- 
spects one of them, rather severely. Besides, there 
exists in connection with Harvard College, in addition 



14 

to the usual beneficiary aid of from ^^ 30 to $ 50 
annually to needy and meritorious students, another 
fund, established by a number of friends of the Col- 
lege, from which any worthy student may obtain $ 40 
or $ 50 annually, 07i loan, without interest during the 
time the student is in College ; and which is enough to 
cover the whole of this forty-dollar difference. Now, 
can any man believe, that, with a knowledge of these 
facts, — and any one who inquires is informed of them, 
— there ever was an individual deterred from send- 
ing his son to Harvard by the mere College ex- 
penses ? He might be deterred, through considering, 
or being made to believe, that the temptations to idle- 
ness or vice are greater in the vicinity of a city than 
in the country, — he might be deterred by the idea 
that the temptations to expense, from style or associa- 
tion, are greater at Harvard than at other Colleges; 
but that what are termed " tuition expenses," or " Col- 
lege expenses, " ever solely deterred any man from 
sending his son to Harvard College, who had ac- 
quainted himself with the subject, I do not believe. 
In my opinion, it never was the case. 

Again, as respects the real necessity for a reduc- 
tion of the expenses. The total amount of " College 
expenses," or " tuition expenses," however called, 
meaning the expenses incident to College life, is, as I 
have shown, less than ^94. Of the 254 under- 
graduates in Harvard College, about 30 or 40 are 
beneficiaries, for whose support there already exists 
a sufficiently liberal provision, as I have just now 
intimated, and shall presently show more fully. Next, 
there are about 60 or 70 who would like to have 
the expenses reduced the proposed 30 or 40 dol- 
lars. There then remain about 150, whose parents do 



15 

not desire a reduction ; who will not thank you for it ; 
who think the expenses of the College little enough ; 
and who are of opinion, that if they can get their sons 
through such a seminary as Harvard College, with all 
its noble libraries, its numerous branches of study, and 
desirable facilities for education, by paying ^90 or 
,$f 100, per annum, "College expenses," strictly so 
called (which is cheaper than Boston parents can get 
a girl of fifteen educated for a year at one of the pri- 
vate schools in that city), the charge is sufficiently low ; 
they are satisfied. Now I never could see the wis- 
dom of reducing expenses to the sons of such pa- 
rents, who do not ask it, and would not thank you 
for it. And I say without hesitation, that they never 
constitute less than three fifths of every College class. 

As respects the beneficiaries, — every undergrad- 
uate, who can plead need and merit, can be sure 
of receiving from ^^ 30 to $60, — say an average 
of $ 40, — annually, from the College beneficiary fund, 
— and also of receiving a like sum from a private fund 
in the hands of trustees, on loan, without interest so 
long as he continues an undergraduate, on a note 
taken from himself, though under age, and without 
the guaranty of his father, — the trustees relying upon 
the principle of honor, inherent, as they hope and 
believe, in every one who graduates at Harvard Col- 
lege, that he will repay the same, with the interest 
which may accrue after the time he graduates, as 
soon as the income of his profession or industry shall 
permit. In this hope they have no experience to teach 
them that they are likely to be generally disappointed. 

It appears, then, that every student, who is willing 
to be considered a beneficiary, and in the opinion 
of the Faculty is entitled to receive aid, may reason- 



16 

ably calculate upon obtaining ;^80 — on the terms I 
have stated — towards paying ^^94, which is the whole 
amount of " College expenses," technically so called, 
leaving just ^14 to be paid by the parent; — an 
amount certainly not to be regarded by any one as 
extravagant, considering the many advantages a stu- 
dent is permitted to enjoy at Harvard College. 

Besides the rich, who are indifferent to the expense, 
and the needy, who are anxious about it, there is a 
third class, who are so well off in point of property as 
not to be willing that their sons should be regarded as 
beneficiaries, and yet not in sufficiently easy circum- 
stances to be able to meet as readily as they could wish 
all the College expenses. Now to this class the loan 
fund, without interest while the applicant remains an 
undergraduate, is always open ; and from it any under- 
graduate, who possesses the qualifications of scholar- 
ship and good conduct, may calculate upon receiving 
at least ^^ 40, — a sum equal to the average difference 
of the " College expenses " at Harvard College, and 
those of other similar institutions ; leaving only about 
fi 50 out of ;^ 94 to be provided for by the parent ; — 
an amount of expense not very oppressive even to 
this class of parents ; particularly as they have the 
power of taking advantage of the College benefici- 
ary fund, if they choose to apply for it. 

I have here been speaking exclusively of the " Col- 
lege expenses," technically so called. All other 
expenses are subject to the control of each student. 
Such are board, fuel, light, text-books. They can be 
obtained nearly, if not quite, as cheap at Harvard as 
elsewhere, — and as to cheap living, by joining in 
clubs, the students, if so disposed, can live as econom- 
ically at Harvard as anywhere. One student assured 



17 

me that it cost him only one dollar a week for board ; 
another, that he lived for fifty cents a week. 

As to reducing College expenses for the benefit of 
the rich, or those who are satisfied with the present 
state of them, I see in the project neither wisdom 
nor charity. Meritorious students may always calcu- 
late upon receiving from the beneficiary fund and the 
loan fund an amount nearly equal to these " College 
expenses." To have the power of distributing a some- 
what larger amount than at present to undergraduates 
of this class might be desirable. And in respect of 
that intermediate class who do not require beneficiary 
aid, a larger loan fund than is at present possessed is 
undoubtedly much to be wished, so as to enable the 
trustees to bestow a sum more nearly approximating 
the " College expenses," technically so called, than they 
can at present. An increased loan fund, and a some- 
w^hat larger beneficiary fund, are, in my judgment, 
all that is wanted. Experience has shown, that the 
policy of supplying students with loans, without in- 
terest during their Collegiate life, on no other secu- 
rity than their own notes, is the form of aid most 
satisfactory to parents, — and the young men them- 
selves always express great gratification, also, at the 
opportunity of thus relieving their parents from re- 
sponsibility and a portion of the expense of their 
education, by thus assuming it to themselves. Often 
the first fruits of professional success are devoted by 
them to restoring to the loan fund the amount they 
have received from it, with interest from the time of 
taking their degree ; and they feel a just pride in thus 
contributing to enlarge a fund from w^hich they have 
derived a benefit which they readily acknowledge. 

I am not one of those who desire to see all the youth 
3 



18 

of the Commonwealth concentrated at Harvard for an 
education. I look upon Amherst and Williams with 
no envious or jealous eye. Both of them cultivate 
and support, in their respective vicinities, a high and 
sound standard of College education. Instead of 
adopting a policy which should deprive them of their 
proportion of students, in order to give Harvard a 
great enlargement, I think they both deserve patron- 
age; and when that noble merchant (Amos Law- 
rence), who is at once a blessing to the city in which 
he resides and an honor to our common nature, gave, 
as he lately did, ten thousand dollars for the pur- 
pose of raising Williams College from its ashes, I felt 
scarcely less gratification than if it had been given to 
Harvard College. If we could draw off all the students 
both from Williams and Amherst to-morrow, I think 
it would scarcely be more injurious to these institutions 
than to the Commonwealth. And as to Harvard, I know 
not what it would do with the resulting addition to its 
numbers, considering the great enlargement of its Law 
and Divinity Schools. It appears to me, the wisest and 
the only very desirable policy, on the whole matter, is 
to insure funds adequate to give all the reasonable as- 
sistance to every class which requires aid. As to 
those classes which do not require aid, and do not 
thank you for giving it, the true policy is to leave ex- 
penses as they are. 

But the cry everywhere is, " Numbers, — Num- 
bers." "These," every one exclaims, "are the evi- 
dence and element of success." All this is very natu- 
ral in a republic. Under such a form of govern- 
ment, power and superiority are reckoned by the head. 
No account is taken of the nature of those heads, or 
of their material. 



19 

But the success of a literary institution is to be tested 
by a very different measure from " numbers." These, 
to say the least, are very uncertain criteria of suc- 
cess, and for this plain reason : because there are so 
many causes leading to the selection of a literary insti- 
tution, and for thronging to it, apart from its fulfilment 
of its duties in a high degree. The sole criterion of 
success in relation to such an institution is the quality 
of the scholars it sends forth into the world. Is it faith- 
ful to its trust? Are all admitted equally to its privi- 
leges ? Does it reject no one who is diligent and 
virtuous ? 

Numbers in a literary institution are by no means 
an unqualified blessing. In this world good and evil 
are mixed, or placed side by side. Compensation 
is the law of Providence. Numbers bring not merely 
honors, reputation, and equivalent income to a literary 
institution, but something else. They bring increased 
care, anxiety, labor in instruction and supervision, 
greater danger of noisy assemblages, more materials for 
the engendering of idle, dissipated, rude, and ill-regulat- 
ed habits and manners. Numbers bring also increased 
expenses, require necessarily more instructors, cause 
more difficulty in arranging hours for study, more mi- 
nute division of the labors of instructors, and a less 
proportion of direct instruction to each individual. All 
these results are unavoidable. 

And yet the author of the minority report, in his 
desire to obtain "numbers," seriously intimates that 
the present corps of instructors in Harvard College 
may be reduced ; an intimation which would seem to 
imply that the number of instructors now in Har- 
vard is unnecessarily great in proportion to its number 
of students. 



20 

In the course of the remarks growing out of the mi- 
nority report, its author referred to Yale and its num- 
bers in comparison with Harvard. From the example 
of Yale, then, let us see if there be any such great 
excess of instructors in Harvard beyond what its num- 
ber of students require. Setting aside, in respect of 
both institutions, the instructors in the modern lan- 
guages, and also the professors of the Law, Medical, 
and Divinity Schools, except so far as they take part 
in the instruction of undergraduates, there are em- 
ployed in Yale, in the offices of instruction, by hearing 
recitations, or lecturing in the following branches, 
namely, natural religion, the evidences of Christianity, 
natural, moral, and intellectual philosophy, constitu- 
tional law, rhetoric, logic, history, anatomy, elocution, 
and chemistry, 12 professors, including the President 
of the College, 7 tutors, and 3 called either lecturers, 
assistant lecturers, or instructors, — constituting a body 
of 22 instructors or lecturers for 394 students. In 
Harvard, for teaching the same branches, there are 
employed in like modes of instruction 10 professors 
and 3 tutors, — a body of 13 instructors for 254 stu- 
dents.* In Yale 18, in Harvard 192, undergradu- 
ates to an instructor. 

In Yale, they employ in instruction in the Latin and 
Greek 3 professors and 5 tutors. In Harvard, they em- 
ploy only 2 professors and 2 tutors in teaching these 
languages, and that during the four years of the Col- 
lege course; w^hile in Yale these branches are taught 
but for three years. In mathematics, there are em- 
ployed at Yale one professor and one tutor, and in natu- 
ral philosophy, the same number ; while at Harvard only 
one professor is employed in teaching each branch. 

* See Appendix, C. 



21 

In what I have said I have not had the most dis- 
tant intention of instituting a comparison between Har- 
vard and Yale, for the purpose of intimating a prefer- 
ence for one or the other. They are both high, 
honorable, and well conducted institutions. Between 
their respective officers there is a perfect harmony 
and friendly intercourse ; nothing either of jealousy or 
envy. Both perform their respective duties to the 
public, according to their means and opportunities, 
faithfully and earnestly. Nor is it intended to sug- 
gest, that in Yale there are too many instructors in 
proportion to the students, or that they do less work 
than those at Harvard, or that there is any superiority 
in the one College over the other. Whatever has been 
here introduced in the nature of a comparison is intend- 
ed to illustrate the position, that, if the number of 
students in a literary institution increase, the number 
of instructors, and of course expenses, increase also; 
and to show that there is nothing in the example of 
Yale to justify the suggestion, that the number of in- 
structors in Harvard is unreasonably great in propor- 
tion to its number of undergraduates. 

On this subject of numbers, there are, as has been 
stated, 394 undergraduates in Yale, being 140 more 
than in Harvard. Of those in Yale, 201 come from 
the Middle, Southern, and Western States. The 
young men from those quarters of the Union now in 
Harvard are, in general, as worthy and well dis- 
posed as any members of the seminary. Some of 
them are among our highest scholars, and among 
the most valued for their example and influence, and 
bid fair to be an honor to the College and to be 
distinguished in after life. But young men from those 
quarters of the Union are often educated in a manner 



22 

at variance with the customs and habits of New- 
England. Placed at a distance from parental influence, 
too often supplied with unlimited command of funds 
through a mistaken confidence of their friends or rela- 
tives, they are exposed to manifold temptations, which, 
to some temperaments, are wholly irresistible, and in 
former times they have accordingly proved very 
troublesome inmates of College. In a few portions of 
the Union, a dagger or a bowie-knife is said to be 
deemed an indispensable appendage of a gentleman ; 
and young men who carry such deadly weapons about 
them are apt to use them on very slight occasions. 
Hitherto the annals of Harvard have not been sullied 
by the murder of a professor or tutor. Should, how- 
ever, such an event ever occur here, I earnestly hope 
that the laws of Massachusetts may be so framed, 
adjudged, and executed, that the offender shall not 
escape through the payment of money, but shall incur 
the full penalty affixed by the laws of the land to 
murder and manslaughter ; and the lives of professors 
and tutors enjoy the same protection as those of other 
members of the community. 

As to the insinuation, that the professors at Harvard 
could do more in the way of instruction than they now 
do, and their places still be " the most agreeable, most 
desirable, and least onerous in the country " ; I sup- 
pose they could, at least some of them. And if you 
will give them more instruction to do, and time to 
do it in, they are ready, and would thank you. But 
for this time is necessary as well as inclination. There 
are in Harvard 254 undergraduates, distributed into 
classes, divisions, sections ; from seven to ten recitations 
almost daily, in different branches, every undergradu- 
ate being made as far as possible to recite three hours 



23 

daily ; six or eight instructors, each deeply interested 
in securing to himself his proper proportion of the time, 
and all anxious so to arrange the hours, that, while the 
students shall not be harassed by exercises following 
immediately one upon another, they themselves may be 
enabled, at the same time, to fulfil the duty they owe 
to their respective branches, in the most perfect and 
thorough manner. Now this division and arrangement 
of time is not an easy matter. On the contrary, it is 
a most difficult one ; and when it is making, it is al- 
ways a source of a good deal of discussion, carried 
on at times with some degree of feeling and even 
warmth. Every year I witness very animated de- 
bates on these topics, among the instructors ; each one 
contending for his share — his full share — of time for 
instruction in his branch. The great contest is, who 
shall get the best position and the greatest number 
of hours for his work, — not who shall have the feic- 
est, I repeat, then, that, if you will find the time 
for any instructor, I will guaranty that he will fully 
employ it in the work appropriate to his branch. But 
if you mean to turn honorable and learned professors 
over to other work, in any other branch than that 
to which they have devoted their lives, and to teach 
which they were invited to Harvard College; if you 
mean to make a mathematical professor teach Greek, 
or a Greek professor mathematics, — I think there will 
be some objections; and, I apprehend, not without 
reasons, to say the least, very plausible. 

The intimations plainly given in the minority re- 
port, that professors in Harvard College do less than 
they might, have more tutors in their respective branch- 
es than they need, and that, in the way the author 
of this report has pointed out, they could easily be 



24 

made to do more, are unjust and gratuitous. Had 
such intimations fallen from a stranger to the institu- 
tion, they would have been comparatively of little im- 
portance. A stranger, unacquainted with the difficulty 
of so arranging the hours of recitation as to give to 
each branch its due proportion of time and attention, 
might easily be led into such errors. But the author 
of the minority report was educated at Harvard Col- 
lege, and has held the office of tutor in it, and must 
know that an attempt to devolve upon professors the 
labors now required of tutors, in addition to their own 
proper duties, would be wholly incompatible with the 
general arrangement of the recitation hours of the 
several classes so that the duties of the respective in- 
structors may not interfere, and with that thorough- 
ness of teaching required by the character of the Col- 
lege and the high standard of scholarship at which it 
aims. He knows those professors, and knows also, 
that, if such plan were practicable, they would not 
wait for any third person to suggest it. 

I am entitled to speak distinctly of the services of 
these gentlemen by a long official acquaintance with 
their virtues, and with their readiness to labor, each 
in his vocation. I know their duties, and the earnest- 
ness, fidelity, and singleness of heart, with which they 
execute those duties ; and I here say, without qualifica- 
tion, that, in my judgment, a more able, faithful, ear- 
nest, and assiduous body of instructors, or more willing 
to spend and be spent in its service. Harvard College 
never had. And as to their offices being, as the 
author of the minority report insinuates, "the least 
onerous in the country," the idea is altogether decep- 
tive. The labors and responsibilities of these gentle- 
men are not to be estimated, and are very insufficient- 



m 

ly indicated, by the hours of exercises stated in the 
tabular views, which are prepared chiefly for the use 
of the students, and with no design to represent the 
amount of the duties and services of the instructors. 
The hours of recitation are, indeed, in themselves 
" onerous " enough. The intensity of mental applica- 
tion and the w^ear of feeling consequent upon the labor 
of instructing from at least one hundred to one hun- 
dred and twenty young men, belonging to different 
classes, for three or four successive hours, on three 
or four successive days in a week, is no light work. 
Then there are every week as many written exer- 
cises to be examined and criticized, in the several 
branches, as there are members of the class ; the value 
of each recitation and exercise to be estimated, a rec- 
ord to be kept of those estimates and of any miscon- 
duct, and a return made of them to the Faculty; les- 
sons omitted by students, who have been sick, or ab- 
sent on leave, to be heard, and in like manner esti- 
mated and returned ; every moment a liability to be 
called on by the President, in case of any emergen- 
cy; one night every week, whether called or not, a 
meeting to consider the discipline of the College and 
to examine into its state; and these meetings, when 
disorders arise in the seminary, sometimes repeated 
three or four evenings in a week, accompanied with 
painful and difficult investigations, resulting often in 
decisions in relation to which the line of duty is not 
very clear, and terminating sometimes in the general 
discontent of the students, and not unfrequently in 
complaints or remonstrances from parents and friends 
of the individuals subjected to punishment. 

When all these particulars are considered, I appre- 
hend it will be found that the duties of the instruc- 
4 



26 

tors are in their nature not quite so wholly de- 
lectable and desirable, as the author of the minority 
report, in his zeal to make their offices appear to the 
public little onerous, has seen fit to represent. Of all 
methods, that of taking the tabular views of the hours 
of recitation as the measure of the official labors of 
the instructors is the most unjust and deceptive. 
A lawyer spends an hour in arguing a cause. Are 
his labor and rate of compensation to be estimated 
by the value of that hour ? The laborious days and 
nights which he has spent in preparing himself to 
make that argument, — are these to be made no ac- 
count of? The case is the same with these profes- 
sors. They have not only labored hard, in time past, 
to acquire the knowledge they have attained, but, if 
they are true to the College and themselves, they 
must labor daily and diligently to preserve and en- 
large the knowledge they have acquired. The hu- 
man mind, in the present age, is striving for advance- 
ment with a zeal and activity never before witnessed. 
New books, new views, new projects are daily put 
forth in relation to every art and every science. A 
professor in a University is bound, and has hard 
work of it, to keep up with the age in this respect. 
Then he occupies a somewhat conspicuous place in 
the literary world. He is bound, if possible, to do 
justice to his position; to throw his contribution into 
the general stock everywhere forming by men of sci- 
ence. Every height, every distinction he attains, is an 
honor acquired for the University with which he is 
connected. Its glory is, in a greater or less degree, 
identified with his success. 

It appears by the minority report, that this grand 
scheme of improvement does not stop at the dis- 



27 

missing of tutors and giving more work to professors. 
It casts an eye also upon the President, and it con- 
templates making him an instructor. Certainly, Sir, 
it is but reasonable, while every other officer is about 
being made to contribute to this eleemosynary project, 
that he also should be called upon for his subscrip- 
tion. Accordingly, Sir, 1 have had many questions 
put to me of late concerning the President's office and 
my management of it; some of them very curious 
and very particular. And I dare say, as is usual on 
occasions of this kind, many things are in circulation 
which never reach my ears. Among other things, I 
have heard that the President does not attend morn- 
ing prayers, or, at least, very seldom attends. 

Here Mr. Bancroft interrupted Mr. Quincy, ex- 
claiming, — "I never said so." 

Mr. Quincy, in reply : — And I never said he did. 
But I am misinformed, if it has not been said. 
However, I should as little have thought of saying 
any thing upon that subject, as I should have of 
speaking here on the most common and every-day 
action of life, had not a question of the same general 
import been put to me, in writing, by a friend, — 
one of the committee to whom was referred the 
minority report. Consequently, I conclude the sub- 
ject has been under inquiry by that committee in 
some form. My answer was in writing, but I choose 
to repeat it here. For the manner, in every par- 
ticular, in which I have conducted in that office, I 
hold myself responsible to the public, not only in 
this place, but everywhere and at all times. My an- 
swer was, — "I have been President of Harvard Col- 



28 

lege nearly sixteen years, and I have never been 
absent once from morning prayers during the whole 
period, — three mornings only excepted, when I was 
summoned, as a witness, by the Court at Concord, 
on business of the College." 

Another subject of inquiry was, " Whether it was 
the practice of the President to instruct. " To this 
I deemed it my duty to reply at large. I shall, there- 
fore, here only state generally my view of the interest 
of the College in that respect. My letter is in the 
hands of the committee on the minority report, and I 
suppose will, in some form, come before the public. 

Here some conversation occurred between Mr. 
Bancroft and Mr. Gray ; after which, Mr. Gray rose 
and stated that he had not laid that letter before the 
committee, because he had written to the President, not 
under the authority of the committee, but for his own 
personal information, and that he did not consider the 
President's answer to have been made under cir- 
cumstances authorizing him to give it publicity; but 
that he would now return it to the President and 
place it at his disposal. Mr. Gray accordingly de- 
livered the letter to Mr. Quincy. 

Mr. Quincy then proceeded : — The course of the 
gentleman (Hon. John C. Gray), in this instance, is in 
conformity with that high delicacy and propriety 
which characterizes his whole conduct in life. But 
ahhough I knew that his letter to me was not written 
under the authority of the committee, yet my answer 
to him was made without any injunction or desire 
of secrecy. On the contrary, I contemplated pub- 
licity at the time, as appears from the fact that the 



29 

letter contains a postscript, requesting that ''if printed 
I might have the correction of the press." 

The contents of that letter I have no wish to con- 
ceal. I deem the views it presents very important, 
and I shall take a proper opportunity to place them 
before the public. From their nature, they necessarily 
include many details ; on which, of course, it is not 
my intention to enter on this occasion. I shall merely 
give a brief oudine of those views. 

The wisdom of past times provided that the office 
of President in Harvard University should not be 
connected with instruction; and I have no reason to 
believe that any President has acted as an instruc- 
tor for more than a century ; certainly, since the 
American Revolution. It is said that Dr. Kirkland 
once attempted it. If he did, it was for a very short 
time, and was wholly confined, as I am told, to a few 
extemporaneous lectures to one of the classes in the 
Divinity School. 

The President's office embraces the highest class 
of duties. In its nature, it consists in the superin- 
tendence of all the concerns of the University, moral, 
literary, economical, and fiscal. No man can read 
a specification of those duties, as set forth in the 
laws of the College, and for a moment believe that a 
President can perform them as they ought to be per- 
formed, and have time left to prepare lectures, hear 
recitations, examine themes, or for other exercises ap- 
propriate to the office of a College instructor. 

I speak, as I wrote, wholly independently of all 
personal considerations. No man could ask, or rea- 
sonably expect, that, at my period of life, I should 
undertake, for the first time, to fulfil the duties of an 
instructor. I speak, therefore, independently, for the 



30 

interest of the University, and for the benefit of my 
successor, who, in the course of nature cannot be far 
off; probably, is very near. 

The qualities necessary for an efficient general 
superintendent (which has been always substantially 
the nature of the office of President in Harvard Uni- 
versity), and the qualities necessary to a highly gifted 
instructor, are essentially different. The concentration 
and abstraction of mind, which are required for dis- 
tinguished success in the latter, are, generally speak- 
ing, wholly incompatible with the successful perform- 
ance, or even patient endurance, of the duties of the 
former. This I apprehend will be made sufficiently 
clear, when those duties shall be considered in their 
details, in all their importance and bearings. 

I do not say that the present duties of the office 
of President may not be so modified and reduced as 
that the same person may perform, to a sort of gener- 
al satisfaction, the offices both of superintendent and 
instructor. But I do say that such a combination of 
functions is, in my judgment, to be deprecated, and 
would probably result in a very imperfect performance 
of both. The correctness of this opinion will, I think, 
be made manifest on examining into the details of 
the President's office. 

I now come to the consideration of the "fee for 
advanced standing," which the author of the minority 
report (Mr. Bancroft) denounces as extortion. For 
myself. Sir, I should be very reluctant to give such a 
hard name to a principle which has had the sanction 
and practice of this College ever since its formation, 
and is, I apprehend, in a greater or less degree, that 
of every other College in the United States. Such 
a fee has always been demanded, as both reasonable 



31 

and just, in cases where the parent of the applicant 
is able to pay it ; and where he is not, on suitable 
representation, it has always been remitted. What 
the exact practice was in very ancient times I cannot 
state. It is apparent, however, from the College 
records of the last century, that a fee for advanced 
standing was then exacted, and on suitable occa- 
sions remitted. As an evidence of this, I ask the 
liberty to read a transcript from those records, rela- 
tive to one of our most distinguished citizens, which 
cannot fail to have an interest in itself, independent 
of the particular purpose for which it is now intro- 
duced. 

Mr. Quincy here read a vote of the Faculty of 
Harvard College, relative to the admission of John 
Quincy Adams to that institution.* 

Mr. Quincy proceeded : — It is apparent from this 
record, that, so long ago as 1786, an admission fee 
was exacted, and on proper occasions remitted. 

The principle which regulates the application or 
remission of that demand will appear by a vote of the 
President and Fellows of Harvard College, passed in 
June, 1839; under which, every applicant for the 
remission, who has brought himself within the terms 
of the vote, has never failed to have it granted.! 
Now this admission fee, thus boldly denounced as 
"extortion,^^ taking into view the liberal principles 
practically apphed to its remission, is, in my opinion, 
both just and salutary, and founded on sound rea- 
sons of public policy ; and, as far as the experience 
of sixteen years in the government of the Univer- 

* See Appendix, D. t See Appendix, E. 



32 

sity has enabled me to judge, is so considered by 
a very great majority even of those v^ho pay it. It 
will be found upon examination, that three fourths, 
if not a greater proportion, of all those from whom 
this fee has been exacted have been the sons of 
gendemen of independent fortunes, dwelling in other 
States ; and perhaps a few of the same class, in Massa- 
chusetts. From various circumstances, arising partly 
from local distance, partly from natural affection, which 
leads such men to desire to have their children separa- 
ted from them as few years as possible, and other 
causes, — not feeling any restriction on their inclina- 
tions from considerations of expense, parents of this 
class are apt to educate their sons at home, or at schools 
in their vicinity, and then send them to College, for the 
benefit of one or two, possibly three years' instruction, 
and that they may carry into life the name and reputa- 
tion attached to a degree from a high seminary of 
learning. Many of them cannot be made to realize the 
necessity, in a literary point of view, or the advantage, 
in relation to character and intellectual power, of a 
thorough drilling during the four years of a College 
course. Their sons often come partially fitted, even in 
the branches which are the particular subjects of ex- 
amination ; and though so well qualified as not to be re- 
jected, yet frequently wanting in those habits and scho- 
lastic attainments which a College residence during the 
entire course is adapted to impart. Now is it right — 
nay, is it even just to this class of gentlemen — to en- 
courage them in such mistaken practice? Is it wise, 
as respects the public, to give a bounty upon a half 
or three-fourths College education ? 

The people of Massachusetts, by public patron- 
age or private Uberality, have founded institutions for 



33 

education called Colleges; all established on the 
principle, that a four years' residence is important, if 
not essential, to a thorough education; and to this 
the support of a body of professors and instructors, 
and a large and expensive apparatus, during that whole 
period, are indispensable. Gentlemen of independent 
fortunes in other States contribute nothing to the sup- 
port of these establishments. Is it reasonable that the 
sons of these gentlemen should have the privilege of 
participating equally with citizens of Massachusetts in 
the honors and advantages accruing from a degree, on 
paying, as the case may be, one third, one half, or 
three fourths of the amount, which every such citizen, 
who avails himself of the whole College course, is 
obliged to pay? I think not. Yet, even with the 
exaction of the admission fee, as at present estab- 
Hshed, this class of gentlemen are enabled to gain ad- 
mission for their sons into College, at any period of the 
course, exclusive of the Senior year, by paying one 
half of the single item of the instruction fee which 
every citizen of Massachusetts is obliged to pay for 
regularly educating his son to the same standing ; an 
amount, in my judgment, not more than reasonable ; 
particularly as, during the whole period of my presi- 
dency, I have no recollection of any parent of this 
class, and do not believe there ever was one, who 
complained of the charge or demurred to its justice. 

The light in which this charge has been held up, 
for the purpose of making it appear odious, as an ex- 
action of payment for instruction which has not been 
received, is not the true view. It is a charge in the 
nature of an indemnity to the State which has founded, 
and to its citizens who for four years have assisted to 
maintain, an expensive establishment, of which the 
5 



34 

people of other States may avail themselves on equal 
terms v^^ith our own people, if they will ; but if, from 
indifference, negligence, or any other cause, they 
take advantage of only one or two of the last years 
of the College course, they, are required, by payment 
of the admission fee, to contribute something towards 
the support of an institution, which has been upheld 
by others at a great expense, to the point at which 
they choose to make use of it. 

The injustice of this scheme of discontinuing the 
admission fee may be further illustrated. 

The College is established on the principle of pro- 
viding a corps of professors, tutors, and instructors, 
suited to a course of four years' residence. Now, sup- 
pose the discontinuance of this charge for advanced 
standing should induce parents generally to adopt the 
practice of delaying to enter their sons until the second 
or third year ; is it not plain that the establishment for 
a four years' course could not be maintained without 
greatly increasing the price of tuition ? in other words, 
that the College, in such case, could not afford the 
same advantages of education as at present, at any 
thing like the present rate of charge? Now, why 
should a few favored ones, who have no claim for 
eleemosynary aid, be admitted to the privilege (if it 
be a privilege) of a one, two, or three years' course, 
on terms such as could not possibly be afforded to 
all? Is it not clear that a scheme contemplating a 
practice of this sort must necessarily work gross in- 
justice to the community at large ? 

Again, — those who enter at the middle of the 
course, without payment of the fee for advanced stand- 
ing, must do it at the cost either of the College, or of 
the students who take the full course. Should all 



35 

come in at the beginning of the Freshman year, and 
continue through the four years, the income of the 
College would obviously be greater, and the price of 
tuition might consequently pro tanto be reduced. Is it 
not, then, clear, that so much as the sons of wealthy 
men inhabiting other States would gain by the discon- 
tinuance of the admission fee, by just the same amount 
must our own citizens be burdened, or the College 
funds diminished? 

How incongruous, also, is it with one breath to con- 
tend for a diminution of the cost of instruction, and 
with the next to propose the discontinuance of a rea- 
sonable fee, the direct tendency of which would be 
either to curtail the College course, or to increase the 
general cost of instruction ! • 

One topic remains, and it is the last on which it 
is my duty to animadvert. It is a topic I would wil- 
lingly avoid; but it is necessary that it should be 
treated with some thoroughness, in order to that com- 
pleteness of reply to the author of the minority report, 
which I engaged to attempt. 

The author of that report (Mr. Bancroft), after la- 
menting that so great a proportion of the students 
should be from Boston and its vicinity, and a few 
favored places; after intimating his deep affliction at 
"the disproportion between the magnificent endow- 
ments of Cambridge, and the comparatively small num- 
ber who derive a benefit from them"; after sighing 
over the towns of the Commonwealth, at a dis- 
tance from Boston, that send their sons elsewhere 
than to Harvard, which he calls "the child of the 
Commonwealth"; after deprecating all party control, 
political or religious, — proceeds to animadvert in terms 
of reprobation on its character for sectarianism, mean- 



36 

ing thereby unquestionably its Unitarianism. Now 
this, coming from the author of the minority report, 
is very curious, and, taken in connection with what 
immediately ensued, is also somewhat symptomatic. 
The report, having been read by its author to the 
Board of Overseers, was soon after followed up by 
a formal order from a lay Calvinistic member of the 
Board (Mr. Walley), having for its object the sepa- 
ration of the Divinity School from the College, and 
thus making this latter what he called " a State literary 
institution, free from all denominational bias " ; he, 
too, like the author of the minority report, being 
desirous to relieve the College from all suspicion of 
sectarianism. Putting these circumstances together, 
I tcould not fail to perceive that there was a har- 
mony and happy coincidence in language and action 
between those political partisans with whom the author 
of the minority report is associated, and those religious 
partisans with whom the author of the order for up- 
setting the Divinity School is associated. Now, Sir, I 
should cooperate most cordially in any project of union 
and brotherly love between what are usually observed 
to be very antagonistic elements, did I not plainly see 
that their successful concert, in the present instance, 
would result, and did I not conscientiously believe 
that the main design of one of the parties was that 
it should result, not in getting what they call " secta- 
rianism " out of the College, but in getting one species 
of sectarianism out, and another species of sectarianism 
in. Accordingly I deem it my duty here to speak 
directly and plainly of the sectarianism of Unitarian- 
ism, as it actually exists in Harvard College, and as it 
has existed there ever since I was appointed President. 
In the first place, I ought to observe that the 



37 

Unitarianism of Harvard College is spoken of and 
preached against by Calvinistic clergymen and mis- 
sionaries, in the Middle, Southern, and Western States, 
and even in the interior of Massachusetts, in lan- 
guage very different from that in which it is spoken 
of and preached against by clergymen of that faith in 
Boston and its vicinity; and for this plain reason, that no 
clergyman in the vicinity of Harvard College could 
use such language as that often adopted elsewhere, 
without being justly liable, in the opinion of every audi- 
tor knowing the facts, to an epithet which no gentle- 
man ought to bear, and much less a clergyman. I 
have full evidence upon this point in the often repeated 
declarations of young men coming from other quar- 
ters of the Union, who have expressed to me their 
utter astonishment at what they had heard before they 
came to Harvard College, and their gratification at 
what they had witnessed and experienced there, in 
relation to its Unitarian designs and influences. 

In those States, Harvard College is represented as 
a society combined and laboring for the propagation 
of Unitarianism ; as an association of infidels, without 
belief in the awful mystery of Christ's incarnation, 
placing no reliance on his propitiatory death, and 
deriving no assurance of a future state from his glori- 
ous resurrection and ascension; denying his divine 
mission, not acknowledging him either as Mediator or 
Redeemer, but resting all their hopes of a future life 
and happiness on their own merits ; " not mention- 
ing Christ in their prayers," and "openly denying 
the Lord who bought them." The funds of the 
seminary are there asserted to be devoted, all its 
influences directed, to making proselytes to the Uni- 
tarian faith ; its honors, its beneficiary donations, are 



38 

said to be distributed on that principle and for that 
object. Parents, who are found contemplating send- 
ing their sons to Harvard, are beset by the Calvin- 
istic preacher or missionary in their neighbourhood, 
and entreated not to jeopardize their children's hopes, 
both as respects the present and the future life, by- 
subjecting them to the temptations and dangers to 
which an education at Harvard College would in- 
evitably expose both their bodies and souls. Every 
parental interest and affection is assailed to shape 
the judgment and influence the will in favor of other 
institutions. 

Now, although these homilies partake strongly of 
the nature of "pious frauds," I am not disposed to 
charge these preachers and missionaries with circu- 
lating what they know to be falsehoods. They go 
forth after being educated under strong prejudices. 
They preach and lecture under great temptations ; 
to audiences who take all they say upon trust, and 
who often have no means of knowing the truth in re- 
spect to their assertions ; and they frequently know no 
better themselves. They probably preach according to 
their belief, and as they deem most advantageous 
for the influence of the Calvinistic sect. 

There is no question that systematic calumnies like 
these, circulated very openly and boldly, as I am in- 
formed, in the Middle, Southern, and Western States, 
have a powerful influence in turning young men from 
Harvard to other Colleges; and that they are the 
main cause of the diminished influx of students from 
those States, and from foreign countries, into Har- 
vard, and of the comparative increase of their num- 
bers in other Colleges. In Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, 
Williams, Amherst, and Harvard, there are four hun- 



39 

dred and fifty students derived from these sources ; of 
whom Yale has 201, the other four Colleges 146, and 
Harvard only 103. That such are the effects of repre- 
sentations like those above stated, assiduously made, 
circulated, and believed in those States, is notorious ; 
and that these representations are utterly false is, in 
this vicinity, equally notorious. 

It is now more than sixteen years since I accepted 
the office of President of Harvard College, and I here 
openly and unequivocally declare, that, so far from the 
influence of Harvard College being devoted to the 
propagation of Unitarianism, or the labors of its teach- 
ers being directed to this object, this has never, so 
far as I have seen, known, or believed, been made 
the chief or any special object of their thoughts or la- 
bors at all. For the purpose of avoiding, as much as 
possible, the communication of any peculiarities of re- 
ligious opinion to the students, writings free from such 
an objection by the universal consent of all classes of 
Christians, such as " Paley's Evidences," and " Buder's 
Analogy," are selected as text- books. Episcopalian, 
Baptist, Calvinist, Unitarian, and every other denomi- 
nation of Christians, have ever stood before the Cor- 
poration and Faculty in the same equal light, been 
treated with the same deference and respect, and have 
received an equal share of the College honors and 
beneficiary funds. Knowing the calumnies wjiich were 
circulated on this subject at a distance from the Col- 
lege, every measure to give content to the members 
of other sects, and to deprive Calvinistic leaders in 
Boston and its vicinity of the power of misrepresenting 
the nature of the influence exerted by the College, 
has been adopted. Every student of full age is per- 
mitted to worship on the Sabbath with whatever sect 



40 

he pleases. Every student under age is permitted to 
worship on the Sabbath with whatever sect his parent 
or guardian pleases. So strictly has this principle been 
carried into effect in relation to students under age, 
that, when, as in some instances has been the case, 
applications have been made by them for liberty to 
worship at the College chapel, they have been syste- 
matically denied, unless they produced a written re- 
quest to that effect from their parent or guardian. If in 
any single instance the contrary has happened, — of 
which, however, I have no knowledge and no belief, 
— it was the result of accident or inadvertence, and 
not of any plan or design. The only exception is in 
the case of special services in the chapel on the oc- 
casion of the death of a student, when all who desire 
to attend are permitted to do so. 

It would be easy to adduce instances, every term, 
of the hberal spirit exercised at Harvard in all cases 
touching religious sentiment. I shall state only one, 
and that of recent occurrence, illustrative of the nature 
of that spirit. There are in the College four monitors, 
one for each class, to note absences at Sabbath and 
daily chapel- services. A small pecuniary compensation 
is attached to the monitorships, which renders them 
objects of desire to students whose circumstances are 
straitened. At the beginning of the present Aca- 
demic year, there were eight or ten applicants for 
these offices. Four were selected, who were deemed 
best qualified for them. Two of the young men thus 
selected, on being informed of their appointment, 
after expressing their thanks, observed that they did 
not know how they could perform the duties of the 
office on the Sabbath, as they belonged to a differ- 
ent persuasion and worshipped elsewhere. They were 



41 

immediately told that this should make no difference ; 
if they would find a classmate to take their place on 
the Sabbath, whom the Faculty should approve, his 
substitution would be allowed. And accordingly 
they have been permitted to enjoy the advantage of 
the monitorships, and at the same time the benefit of 
the religious instructions which they prefer. 

What I have said of the imputations of sectarian 
influence, as respects the Corporation, the Faculty, or 
any of the instructors, applies with equal truth, so far 
as my observation extends, to the Sabbath services of 
the chapel. Although those who attend these ser- 
vices are for the most part sons of parents who are 
either inclined to, or have no fear of the influence of, 
what is called Unitarian preaching (those belonging 
to other denominations in general worshipping else- 
where), yet the officiating clergymen in the chapel 
very seldom allude, in their discourses, to any of the 
tenets peculiar to their faith, or to the opinions of those 
who differ from them ; and if on any occasion it oc- 
curs, it is done without sharpness or bitterness, and 
with no special design to make converts. During the 
whole period of my presidency, I have never — with 
the exception of a single half day — been absent from 
the services of the College chapel. I have a right, 
therefore, if any man has, to speak with confidence of 
the mode in which those who preach in that chapel 
conduct the Sabbath services ; and the result of my 
observation is this, that they scrupulously endeavour 
to inculcate gospel truths in the very words of the 
sacred writings, — believing, as I suppose, that man's 
inventions can add no force to the language of in- 
spiration. They avoid controversy, and select topics 
adapted to make the temper meek and the life holy. 
6 



42 

They reason, after the example of Paul, " of righteous- 
ness, temperance, and judgment to come." They 
preach of Christ as the Son of God, sent by him to 
die for us and be a propitiation for our sins ; — that 
he was exalted by God to be for men a Prince and 
Saviour, and was by him ordained judge of the quick 
and the dead. And in respect of the peculiar opin- 
ions from which the sect has obtained its name, they 
do not indeed preach, because they cannot find in 
the Scriptures, and therefore do not believe, that the 
Son who was sent was the very God who sent him. 
But although they cannot preach that doctrine, they 
seldom refer to it, and never subject those who 
do believe in it either to censure or contempt. Yet 
these are the men whom Calvinistic missionaries repre- 
sent as preaching " nothing but natural religion," and 
calumniate in terms which are worthy to be applied 
only to deists and infidels. I owe this acknowledg- 
ment to the clergymen who officiate in the College 
chapel, although I do not recognize myself as of the 
Unitarian sect, or of any sect * ; believing that I can 
find more truth, and a more heavenly gospel, in the 
word of God itself, than in the teachings of any sect 
man ever devised. 

We now come to the grand plan of excluding 
sectarianism and Unitarianism from the College, by 

* Lest this should be regarded by any one as adopted to serve an occasion, 
I deem it proper to show that this is not a new position which I assume. In 
a letter written by the Hon. Francis C. Gray to the Hon. Levi Lincoln, 
then governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the year 1831, ex- 
plaining the nature of the sectarianism of Harvard College, is the following 
statement of the religious position which I then asserted and maintained : — 
" The President I consider orthodox according to Hollis, and who does not 
allow himself to be called either a Unitarian or a Trinitarian, or to be desig- 
nated by any party name." — See Mr. Gray's Letter. Second Edition. 183L 
p. 45. 



43 

separating from it the Divinity School, and also by 
putting an end to the preaching on the Sabbath, in 
the chapel, of the professors connected with that 
School. In respect of the last part of this project, I 
deem it unobjectionable; and if the laws of the Col- 
lege should be so modified as to permit all undergrad- 
uates to attend such public worship on the Sabbath, 
as their parents or guardians may elect, either in 
Cambridge, Boston, or any adjoining town, giving evi- 
dence of regular attendance on such worship, as the 
sons of parents residing in this vicinity now do, — I 
apprehend the plan is feasible, and, by closing one 
source of misrepresentation, may perhaps be useful. 

But in respect of separating the Divinity School 
from the College, and devesting the Corporation of the 
funds which have been intrusted to their care and 
management, there are not only legal difficulties, which 
need not here be discussed, but others of a practical 
nature, which it may be useful to consider. 

Let us suppose, Sir, that all legal objections are 
surmounted, that the proposed separation is effected, 
and that Divinity Hall, with all its bricks, granite, and 
foundations, like the chapel of " our Lady of Loretto," 
is transported through the air bodily to Pittsfield, North- 
ampton, or some more distant part of the State, and 
Harvard College rid of it for ever. Now let us in- 
quire, What comes next ? Is no divinity to be taught 
in Harvard College ? Is every other science to be 
taught there, and the elements and history of religion 
to be excluded ? O, no, it is replied ; there must be 
a Divinity Professor. If so, the question necessarily 
arises. Of what sect shall he be ? If a clergyman, 
he must be of some sect ; and of whatever denomina- 
tion, be fixes a sectarian character on the College. 



44 

Well then, it is said, there shall be no Professor of 
Divinity in Harvard College. Let this, also, be estab- 
lished. There must be a president and professors. 
Are none of these to be taken from the clergy ? If 
you do thus select, they must be of some sect ; and 
here again your selection fastens sectarianism on the 
College. Well then, you say, we will have no clergy- 
men in any of these offices. This, I know, is the point 
at which some men are driving ; but it is one for which 
I am not prepared, and I question whether the people 
of Massachusetts are prepared for it. My objection to 
the whole scheme of removing the Divinity School from 
the College is, that it will, in the event, either prove 
to be a deception, and only a mode of getting one 
sect out of the College and another sect into it, or else 
will result in establishing in the College the Girard 
principle of excluding clergymen of all denominations 
from all its offices of government and instruction. 

It ought to be the study of every people, who have 
the management of their own affairs, to control and 
keep in check the influence of any one species of 
sectarianism, — to divide, and thus paralyze, its pow- 
ers, and not permit one sect to obtain a predominating 
influence in the state over all or a great majority of 
their seminaries of education. Let the people of Mas- 
sachusetts understand that the attempt now making 
by leading Calvinists in Boston and its vicinity is 
not merely to get Unitarianism out of Harvard Col- 
lege, but to put Calvinism into possession of it; that 
this has been their purpose and struggle for these 
forty years past; and unless their projects be counter- 
acted and defeated by the vigilance and spirit of the 
community, they will ultimately be successful, though 
it cost a struggle of forty years more. The alliance 



45 

recently, to all human appearance, entered into on the 
floor of the Senate-chamber of Massachusetts is a preg- 
nant evidence of their aim and tact. The predomi- 
nating influence of Calvinism is stamped, in charac- 
ters not to be concealed or mistaken, on at least seven 
institutions for education in New England,— Yale, 
Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Middlebury, 
and Burlington. There is also another highly en- 
dowed institution in Massachusetts, in which every 
article of the creed of this sect is riveted down for 
ever on the seminary by a subscription of faith re- 
quired of the professors, to be renewed every five 
years. Yet with all this power they are not content. 
All this influence " availeth them nothing, so long as " 
Harvard is not also in their possession. 

I know it will be said, in reply, "How unjust is 
this charge ! Were not the Calvinists the authors 
of that nobly Hberal scheme by which all sects are 
at this day eligible to seats at the Board of Overseers ? 
Shall no credit be given to them for this pure and 
elevated catholic spirit ? " Certainly, Calvinists were 
agents in effecting that great change in the elemen- 
tal principles of selection of members of this Board. 
And when the project was submitted to the Corpora- 
tion for their sanction, I personally opposed its ac- 
ceptance; not, however, from any illiberal or sectarian 
feeling, but because I foresaw, what events have al- 
ready proved, that this apparently liberal scheme would 
result in constructing, out of the hopes and expecta- 
tions of the members of other sects, a bridge, over 
which Boston Calvinists might pass themselves into 
possession of Harvard College. Does any man believe 
that any one of these would give his vote and influence 
to introduce an Episcopalian, a Baptist, a Methodist, 



46 

a Universalist, into the office of president, or of instruc- 
tor in any moral, religious, or intellectual department 
in Harvard College? I think not. And how has this 
new principle been acted upon by these very Cal- 
vinists ? Since the change in the constitution of the 
Board of Overseers, antecedent to the present session, 
how have four out of five vacancies which have oc- 
curred in this Board, one in the lay and three in the 
clerical part of it, been filled ? Did the Calvinists seize 
the occasion to carry into speedy effect the generous 
design of introducing into the Board members of 
other sects ? Far from it. Three out of these four, 
one layman and two clergymen, were Calvinists. The 
fourth gentleman elected w^as a Universalist ; and he 
was indebted for his majority to the Unitarians. With 
respect to the election of the present session I shall 
say nothing ; for, although a distinguished Unitarian 
has been elected, and I have no doubt that some Cal- 
vinists voted for him, I have no disposition, at present, 
to remark upon the subject. 

My argument, then, is this, — that Calvinists have at 
this day, in Massachusetts, more worldly power and in- 
fluence than any other sect, and probably than all other 
sects put together ; that they have enough colleges and 
theological seminaries at their command for the safety 
and permanence of religious freedom; and therefore, 
whatever sect it may be deemed advisable to place in 
possession of Harvard College, let it not be the Cal- 
vinistic. 

In this connection it may be well for the members 
of other sects to consider, and that, too, with some ear- 
nestness and anxiety, whether, if Calvinism should be 
substituted for Unitarianism in Harvard College, as is 
the design, they would be likely to find more liber- 



47 

ality, more fair play, less bitterness, and a kinder or 
more respectful construction and treatment of their pe- 
culiar religious views than they experience at this day 
from those who are now in possession of that institu- 
tion. I ask the question without prejudice. In a sec- 
tarian sense, I am not, and never was, a Unitarian. 
Indeed, as I understand Unitarianism, it has no princi- 
ple of sectarianism in it, — and from its very nature 
cannot have. 

The question, then, arises. What is meant by the term 
sectarianism? In common speech, we understand 
by this term that exclusive spirit which inculcates a 
belief in certain peculiar tenets in religion, as ajflford- 
ing either the only or the best hope of salvation. Now, 
it is true. Unitarians do, in general, entertain certain 
views relative to the nature and mission of our Saviour, 
which are not in accordance with those held and main- 
tained by the Calvinists. But did any man ever hear of 
a Unitarian, who thought or taught that a belief in that, 
or any other tenet of this denomination, deemed pe- 
culiar, afforded the only, or would give a better, chance 
for salvation ? Did any man ever hear a Unitarian say 
or teach that a Calvinist could not be a Christian ? or 
that they who had adopted the Calvinistic creed, after 
faithful and prayerful research of the Holy Scriptures, 
were not full as likely to be accepted by the Great 
Master, in the day of final retribution, as though they 
had subscribed to every article of the Unitarian faith ? 
I think not ; although it is possible that some of that 
denomination, more valorous than wise, may have been 
tempted to gather up some of the spent shafts of their 
adversaries, and return them into the enemy's camp. 

The foundations of Unitarianism, as I have been 
taught and have surveyed them, are as broad as the 



48 

New Testament, which it receives as the inspiration of 
the Divine Mind, neither desiring to add any thing to it, 
nor daring to subtract any thing from it. All that is mys- 
terious, miraculous, and beyond the comprehension of 
the human intellect. Unitarians receive, not to doubtful 
disputations, but reverently and prayerfully, as an article 
of faith. Their belief in the birth, death, resurrection, 
and ascension of our Saviour is as full and perfect as 
that of any other sect; they rest their hopes of an- 
other life on the cross, and look to him who suffered 
upon it as their Saviour, Sanctifier, Redeemer, and 
final Judge, with as much confidence and trust as 
any other sect. But the great distinguishing charac- 
teristic of the Unitarian body is, that they profess to 
call no man master, upon earth ; and that they act up to 
that profession. Their master is Christ. Their creed 
is the New Testament, sealed by the blood of our 
Saviour, whose teachings they receive and promulgate 
in the language in which he uttered them ; not en- 
deavouring to improve it by the use of technical terms, 
nor perverting it to party purposes with a view to 
clerical power; not believing, and not teaching, that 
their views and opinions are the sole or even infallibly 
the best way of salvation ; and not calling every man a 
heretic who does not adopt them. Such are the 
views of Unitarians, as I have gathered them from the 
preaching of the clergymen of that denomination, in the 
College chapel and elsewhere. They insist on freedom 
from creeds of men's invention, and independence 
of all human dictation in the articles of their faith ; 
maintaining the right of every man to search the Scrip- 
tures for himself, and to ''prove all things " for himself, 
unbiased by party names and technical dogmas. They 
believe that every man must stand or fall, before the 



49 

final Judge, according to the faith he has drawn from 
the Holy Scriptures by virtue of his own research, and 
not by his belief in creeds framed by other men, and 
taken upon trust ; it being every man's duty, as well 
as right, in the language of that father of New Eng- 
land, John Robinson,* " to think for himself, and not, 
like the Lutherans and Calvinists, stop short where 
their leaders stopped " ; — of consequence, that a 
way devised by other men is not to any man the 
way of salvation, unless, independently of human 
guides, he has found that way by his own faithful and 
prayerful research. 

The Unitarian denomination, then, is, in my judg- 
ment, not only not chargeable with sectarianism, but 
it is fundamentally opposed to the whole spirit of secta- 
rianism. The essence of sectarianism consists, as I 
have said, in holding and maintaining one or other of 
two principles, — either that a belief in the tenets 
which the sect combine to maintain is the only Scrip- 
tural way of salvation, or that it is of all ivays the 'most 
certain of salvation. 

The history of the Church is illustrative of these 
views. The Romish church assumed to itself the 
principle, that " out of the pale of our faith there is no 
Scriptural assurance of salvation." This was the great 
power which enabled it for so many ages to govern 
the world. That church, through the instrumentality 
of this principle, possessed itself of the position which 
Archimedes sought, — a place out of the world, by 
which to move the world. This power was figura- 
tively expressed by the term St, Peter^s keys, which 
alone were able to open heaven's gate. 

* See Quincy's *• History of Harvard University," Vol. I., p. 50. 

7 



50 

When the Reformation came, and sects multiplied, 
the leaders of every sect realized the advantage the 
Romish church possessed in St. Peter's keys ; and, as 
they could not devest that church of those keys, they 
set themselves to vrork and manufactured little pass- 
keys, as like St. Peter's as possible, and taught their 
converts to believe that they were quite as good, if not 
a little better, than the great keys of St. Peter ; being 
made of the same material, a little lighter, not quite 
so burdensome, and altogether as sure. 

Now I cannot find that the sect called Unitarian 
ever made to itself a pass-key, — that it ever taught 
that a sincere believer in the divine inspiration of the 
New Testament, receiving all its sublime truths, all its 
mysterious annunciations, all its recorded miracles, the 
death, resurrection, and ascension of our blessed Sa- 
viour, with a humble and childlike faith, whatever 
might be his construction and peculiar views of the 
other parts of the Sacred Scriptures, was not quite as 
sure of salvation as though he believed every tenet 
of the Unitarian creed. 

Such are the grounds on which I said that Unitarian- 
ism has not the vital principle of sectarianism in it. And 
yet, I never did and never will call myself a Unitarian ; 
because the name has the aspect, and is loaded by 
the world with the imputation, of sectarianism. 

It may here properly, and will naturally, be asked, 
If you are neither a Calvinist nor a Unitarian, of what 
sect are you? I answer, in the language of John 
Milton,* whose conversion from Calvinism was, ac- 
cording to his own account of the process, effected in 
the same way as was mine. 

* See " A Treatise on Christian Doctrine compiled from the Holy Scrip- 
tures alone," by John Milton, Vol. I. p. 9. Boston. 1825. 



51 

" For my own part, I adhere to the Holy Scriptures 
alone ; — I follow no other heresy, or sect. / had not 
even read any of the works of heretics, so called, 
when the mistakes of those who are reckoned for 
orthodox, and their incautious handling of Scripture, 
first taught me to agree tcith their opponents when- 
ever those opponents agreed with Scripture, If this 
be heresy, I confess, with St. Paul, Acts xxiv. 14, 
*that after the way which they call heresy so wor- 
ship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which 
are written in the law and in the prophets,' — to which 
I add, whatever is written in the New Testament." 

I answer again, in the language of Scripture, I am 
of the class of "/Ae disciples, loho were called Chris- 
tians first in Jlntioch''^ Acts xi. 26. 

Whenever men will be content with the name 
which the Apostles selected and by which they chose 
to be called, and will use only the language which is 
to be found in the Scriptures, and in the connection, 
and with the meaning, when it is clear, and when it is 
dubious, with the Christian spirit, in which it was used 
by those Apostles, there will be an end of sectarianism, 
and with it an end of clerical ambition, with no dim- 
inution of clerical power ; — all men will worship in the 
same faith together, and be only, and altogether. 
Christians. 



APPENDIX 



TABLES 



Of "College Expenses," strictly so called, at Harvard College, — meari- 
ing thereby those charges which are peculiarly and exclusively inci- 
dent to life in College, and of course excluding cost of Board, Text- 
Books, and Fuel, — for the four Academic years 1813-14 to 1816-17, 
and also for the Acadenoic years 1840-41 to 1843-44. 

Table I. 
1813-14. 



Steward and Commons,* each class, 
Rent, Freshmen, .... 

Sophomores, 

Juniors, ..... 
Seniors, .... 

Instruction, Freshmen, .... 
Sophomores, 

Juniors, .... 
Seniors, 
Instruction in Nat. History, Juniors and Seniors, 
Instruction, Medical, Seniors, 
Library, Freshmen, 

Sophomores, .... 
Juniors, 

Seniors, .... 

Repairs and Fuel of Lecture Rooms, each class, 
Sweepers and Sand, " 

Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, *' 
Theses and Orders, Seniors, . 
Diploma, " 



Fines, average to every student of every class, 2.40 

Assessm'ts for delinquencies in pay't of quarter-bills, average, .98 





Averacje. 


. $ 10.00 


10.00 


7.00 ■] 




7.00 
7.00 ■ 


8,00 


. 11.00 1 




44.00 ^ 




. 44.00 1 
56.00 ■ 


50.00 


. 56.00 




12.00 


3.00 


10.00 


2.50 


0.00^ 
200 
4.00 f 




2.50 


4.00J 






3.96 




2.61 




1.76 


1.21 


.30 


2.00 


.50 



85.13 



3.38 



$ 88.51 



* This charge was entirely independent of the charge for Board in Com- 
mons. 



64 



Table II. 

1814-15. 

Steward and Commons, each class, , . $ 10.00 

Rent, Freshmen, ..... 10.00^ 

Sophomores, .... 10.00 I 

Juniors, ..... 10.00 [ 

Seniors, 12.00 j 

Instruction, Freshmen, .... 45.50'^ 

Sophomores, . . . 45.50 ! 

Juniors, .... 57.50 j 

Seniors, .... 57.50 j 

Instruction in Natural History, Juniors and Seniors, 12.00 

Instruction, Medical, Seniors, . . . 10.00 

Library, Freshmen, ..... 0.00 "j 

Sophomores, .... 2.00 ( 

Juniors, ..... 4.00 j 

Seniors, .... 4.00 J 
Repairs and Fuel of Lecture Rooms, each class, 
Sweepers and Sand, " 
Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, " 
Theses and Orders, Seniors, . . ,1.14 

Diploma, « ... 7.00 

Fines, average to every student of every class, $ 2. 
Assessm'ts for delinquencies in pay't of quarter-bills, average, . 



Average. 

$ 10.00 



10.50 



51.50 

3.00 
2.50 

2.50 



9.67 
1.02 
1.76 
.28 
1.75 



94.48 



3.30 

97.78 



Table III. 








1815-16. 






Average. 


Steward and Commons, each class, 




$ 10.00 


$ 10.00 


Rent, Freshmen, .... 


, 


10.00^ 




Sophomores, 




10.00 ! 


10.50 


Juniors, .... 


. 


10.00 ' 




Seniors, .... 




12.00 




Instruction, Freshmen, 


, 


46.00^ 
46.00 
61.00 ' 




Sophomores, 
Juniors, 




53.50 


Seniors, 




61.00 j 




Instruction, in Natural History, Juniors and Seniors, 


12.00 


3.00 


Instruction, Medical, Seniors, 


, 


10.00 


2.50 


Library, Freshmen, 


, 


0.00^ 




Sophomores, 


, 


2.00 I 


2.*i0 


Juniors, 


, 


4.00 f 


<«.cll/ 


Seniors, .... 




. 4.00 j 




Repairs and Fuel of Lecture Rooms, each ch 


iss, 




7.32 


Sweepers and Sand, " 


. 




2.57 


Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, " 






1.76 


Theses and Orders, Seniors, 


. 


1.34 


.33 


Diploma, « 


• 


7.00 


1.75 



Fines, average to every student of every class, $ 2. 

Assessm'ts for delinquencies in pay't of quarter-bills, average. 



49 



95.73 



? 3.47 
$99.20 



66 





Table IV. 








1816-17. 




Average. 


Steward and Commons, each class, 


$ 10.00 


$ 10.00 


Rent, Freshmen, 


, , 


. 10.00 ^ 




Sophomores, 


. 


10.91 


11.74 


Juniors, 


. 


. 10.91 ' 


Seniors, . 


• • • 


15.16 




Instruction, Freshmen, 


, . 


46.00 ^ 
46.00 
. 64.00 f 




Sophomores, 
Juniors, 


. 


55.00 


Seniors, 


, , 


64.00 j 




Instruction in Natural History 


Juniors and Seniors 


J 




Instruction, Medical, Seniors, 


, , , 


12.88 


3.22 


Library, Freshmen, 


• 


2.00^ 




Sophomores, 


. 


4.00 


3.50 


Juniors, 


. 


4.00 ' 




Seniors, 


, , 


4.00 




Repairs, and Fuel of Lecture Rooms, each class. 




5.45 


Sweepers and Sand, 


(( 




2.55 


Catalogue and Commencement Dinner, " . 




1.76 


Theses and Orders, Seniors, 


. 


1.12 


.28 


Diploma, " 


. 


7.00 


1.75 



Fines, average to every student of every class, 
Assessm'ts for delinquencies in pay't of quarter-bills. 



$1.85 



95.25 



average, .96 ggj 



$ 98.06 



1841-42. 1842-43. 1843-44. 



Table V. 

Expenses at Harvard College (exclusive of Board, Text-Books, and 
Fuel) for the Academical years 

1840-41, 

Instruction, Library, and Lecture 

Rooms, . . . $ 75.00 

Rent, and Care of Rooms, . 15.00 

Special Repairs, . . 1.04 

Diploma, (Seniors, $ 2.50,) average, .62 



75.00 

1.5.00 

1.71 

.62 



$ 75.00 

15.00 

6.56 

.62 



$ 75.00 
15.00 

.85 
.62 



$91.66 $92.33 $97.18 $91.47 



56 



Table VI. 



Summary, showing the average expenses of an undergraduate at Har- 
vard College (exclusive of Board, Text-Books, and Fuel) for four years, 
from 1813-14 to 1816-17, and for four years from 1840-41 to 
1843-44. 



.= 5 

t. = 

"o 1 

11 

11 

Year 1813-14, $85.13 Year 1813- 
" 1814-15, 94.48 « 1814- 
« 1815-16, 95.73 « 1815- 
" 1816-17, 95.25 « 1816- 


bcaj 
.= fi 

1< 
J = 

-14, $88.51 ^ 
-15, 97.78 
-16, 99.20 
-17, 98.06 


Year 1840- 
" J841- 
» 1842- 
" 1843- 


§^ . 

ill 

til 
III 

-41, $91.66 
-42, 92.33 
-43, 97.18 
-44, 91.47 


Total for 4 yrs.,$ 370.59 
Average for 1 yr., 92.64 


$383.55 
$ 95.88 


$ 372.64 
$93.16 



Camhjidge, April 9, 1845. 

I hereby certify that the foregoing tables, numbered from I. to V. in- 
clusive, are abstracts, carefully made, from the original Q,uarter-bill 
Books and Term-bill Books remaining in the Steward's office. Table VI., 
as will appear upon inspection, shows the result derived from the addi- 
tion of the several sums total of the preceding tables. The abstract 
which follows, marked B., showing the sums total of certain College 
bills, is carefully made from the original entries in the Bill Books above 
mentioned. 

W. G. Stearns, Steward of Harvard College. 



57 



B. 

Aggregate of the Quarter-bills of two students at Harvard College, 
(Mr. Bancroft and Mr. Gushing-,) during the four Academic years 
J8 13 -14 to 1816-17; and of one student, (Mr. Charles J. Capen,)* 
during the four Academic years 1840-41 to 1843-44. 
Footings of Quarter-bills, four years, from 1813- 14 to 1816- 17. 





Geo. Bancroft. 


Caleb Cashing. 


Freshman yr., 1st Quarter, 1813-14, 


, $ 14.34 


$ 17.08 




2d « « 


16.52 


40.54 




3d « « 


22.95 


45.47 




4th « « 


13.71 


42.97 






$ 67.52 


i 


$ 152.06 


Sophomore year, 1st Quarter, 1814 - 1 


15,18.79 


53.49 




2d " " 


55.25 


66.37 




3d " « 


64.38 


74.21 




4th " " 


53.01 


60.71 






191,43 





254.78 


Junior year, 1st Quarter, 1815-16, 


55.77 


68.95 




2d " « 


53.82 


64.91 




3d « « 


89.92 


82.55 




4th « « 


61.52 


67.24 






261.03 





283.65 


Senior year, 1st Quarter, 1816-17, 


62.42 


66 80 




2d « « 


64.17 


89.98 




3d « « 


67.04 


84.42 




4th « « 


63.59 


69.53 




Codicil to 4th Quarter-bill, 


38.19 


45.89 






295.41 





356.62 



Total for the four years, $ 815.39 $ 1,047.11 

Footings of Term-hills, for four years, from 1840-41 to 1843-44. 

Charles J. Capen. 

Freshman Year, 1840-41, 1st Term, . ; $99.47 

2d « . . 92.62 



$ 192.09 



Sophomore Year, 1841-42, 1st Term, 
2d « 



Junior Year, 1842-43, 1st Term, 

2d " 



Senior Year, 1843-44, 1st Term, 
2d « 



. 99.01 
93.25 

. 104.28 
104.16 

. 97.69 
92.70 



Total for four years. 



192.26 



208.44 



190.39 
$783.18 



* The reasons for selecting Mr. Capen were, that, like Mr. Bancroft, he was 
the son of a clergyman in moderate circumstances, and (adds the Steward) 
*' that he lived in College and boarded in commons, during his whole College 
life ; a very rare thing in these days. He is charged in every term-bill with 
every one of the six items of Instruction, Rent, Special Repairs, Books, Fuel, 
and Board." 

8 



58 

It appears, however, by the subjoined letter, that Mr. Bancroft, during 
the first year of his College life, and the first quarter of the second year, 
lived out of commons; whereas Mr. Capen, with whom he is compared, 
boarded in commons during every term of his four years. In order, 
therefore, to a just comparison of the present expenses of a College ed- 
ucation with those when Mr. Bancroft was in College, the cost of the 
College board for five quarters ought to be added to the account of Mr. 
Bancroft's expenses, thus: — 

Footing of Mr. Bancroft's Q,uarter-bills, as stated in the Tables, $ 815.39 
Add for Board during five quarters, as by letter below, ] 05.66 

$ 921.05 
But the amount charged to Mr. Bancroft, for Text-books, 

was ...... $78.15 

While the amount charged to Mr. Capen for the same was 

only 35.09 

Deducting the difference, . . . . 43.06 



Mr. Bancroft's College expenses amount to . . $877.99 

Mr. Capen's College expenses were . . . . 783.18 



So that the real excess in the cost of an education at Harvard, 
in 1813-17, beyond that at the present day, according to Mr. 
Bancroft's and Mr. Capen's expenses, is . . . $94.81 

instead of $ 32.21, as stated in the text. 



March 11. 
Dear Sir, 

The following statement shows the amount which would have been 
charged to Mr. Bancroft for Board, if he had been in Commons during 
the early part of his College life : — 

Freshman year, 1st Quarter, . . . $ 3.24* 

2d « . . . . 28.00 

3d « ... 24.57 

4th « . , . . 24.50 

Sophomore year, 1st "... 25.35 

$105.66 

The whole of this amount, $ 105.66, should be added to the gross 
amount of Mr. Bancroft's bills in your possession, in order to find what his 
expenses would have been, had he been always a boarder in Commons. Mr. 
Bancroft ought also to be credited vi'ith the sum of $ 43.06, that being 
the difference between the amounts charged to him and Mr. Capen for 
Text-books. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

W. G. Stearns. 
President Quincy. 

* At the period referred to, the quarter-bills did not correspond at all with 
the terms of study. There were three terms and four quarter-bills. The 
first quarter ended, and the second commenced, a little more than a week after 
the commencement of the College year. This fact accounts for the small 
charge, in the first quarter-bill of the Freshman year, for board in Commons, 
and also for the Codicil at the end of the Senior year. 



59 



lAst of Professors, Lecturers, and Tutors, who instruct at Yale. 
President Day, — Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Political Econ- 
omy. 
Professor Daggett, — Constitutional Law. 

" Silliman, — Chemistry. 

" Kingsley, — Latin and History. 

" Knight, — Anatomy. 

" Fitch, — Moral Philosophy. 

" Goodrich, — Criticism. 

" Olmsted, — Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. 

" Wpolsey, — Greek. 

*' Larned, — Rhetoric and Logic. 

" Stanley, — Mathematics. 

" Thacher, — Latin and Greek. 
Lecturer Shepard, — Natural History. 
Instructor North, — Elocution. 

The above constituting an aggregate of Professors and Instructors, 14 
In addition to the above, there are Tutors, who teach Greek, Latin, 
and Mathematics, ...... 7 

and an assistant Lecturer in Chemistry, ... 1 

22 

I put aside, in Yale, Professors Ives, Taylor, Beers, Gibbs, Hitchcock, 
Hooker, Bronson, Salisbury, and Instructor Townsend, because I cannot 
find that they either instruct or lecture to undergraduates. 

List of the Professors, Lecturers, and Tutors, in Harvard College. 
Professor Warren, — Anatomy. 

" E. T. Channing, — Rhetoric and Oratory. 

" Webster, — Chemistry and Mineralogy. 

" Walker, — Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil 
Polity. 

" Sparks, — History. 

« Beck,— Latin. 

« Felton, — Greek. 

" Peirce, — Astronomy and Mathematics. 

" Gray, — Natural History. 

" Levering, — Natural Philosophy and Mathematics. 
Constituting an aggregate of Professors, . . .10 

In addition to the above, there is one Tutor who instructs in Elocution 
and Constitutional Law, ...... 1 

and in teaching Latin and Greek, .... 2 

13 

I put aside, in Harvard, Professors Jackson, Story, Greenleaf, Bige- 
low, W. Channing, Hayward, Bond, Francis, and Noyes, because they 
neither lecture to nor instruct undergraduates ; and also Ware and 
Treadwell, who lecture on subjects on which there is no corresponding 
lecturing in Yale. Also, in respect of both institutions, the professors 
and instructors in modern languages are put aside. 



60 
D. 

At a meeting of the President, Professors, and Tutors of Harvard 
College, March 15,1786,— 

John Q,uincy Adams, of Braintree, born July 11, 1767, son to his Ex- 
cellency, John Adams, Esq., Ambassador from the United States at the 
Court of London, now applied for admission into the Class of Junior 
Sophisters in this University, and, after examination had, — 

Voted, That, upon his complying with the laws respecting admission, 
he be admitted into such class. 

N. B. No money was required from Adams, for his admission to this 
advanced standing ; the Corporation and Overseers having voted, some 
time before, as a mark of gratitude to his father for the important ser- 
vices rendered by him to the United States, that he should be admitted, 
free from all charge, to whatever standing he should, on examination, 
be found qualified for. 



E. 

Vote passed, June 29, 1839, by the Corporation. 
Voted, That the Treasurer be authorized, on the application of any 
candidate for advanced standing in the College, to postpone any demand 
of the usually required fee, for one year; and if such applicant shall 
prove himself to have need and merit, after trial of one year, that he be 
authorized to remit it altogether. 



EXTRACT FROM MR. BANCROFT'S " MINORITY REPORT," 

so FAR AS IT IS THE SUBJECT OF COMMENT IN THE PRECEDING 
SPEECH. 

The undersigned, as one of the Committee of Visitation, attended to 
the duty assigned him, by repeated visits to the College, by personal 
observation, and by continued inquiries. 

The undersigned dissents totally from the suggestion that higher 
qualifications should be the requirement of admission. Such additional 
requirements could easily be made a part of instruction in the excellent 
public school in Boston, and in some few academies and private schools. 
They could not be made general in the preparatory schools of the 
country ; and they would, therefore, shut the doors of Harvard College 
still more effectually against almost all but the sons of residents in Bos- 
ton, and a few favored places. The adoption of the elective system of 
studies diminishes the motive to such additional requirements. 

The undersigned, acting as one of your Committee, has been more 
deeply impressed than ever with the disproportion between the magnifi- 
cent endowments of Cambridge and the comparatively small number 
who derive a benefit from them. The increase of students has not 
kept pace with the increase of the population of the Commonwealth. 
The resort to the College is also becoming more and more con- 
fined to the sons of residents in Boston and its immediate vicinity. 
Were the whole Commonwealth as well represented there as this city, 
the number of students would be at least three-fold greater than at 
present. It is a serious fact, well worthy the most grave consideration 
of this Board, that eight prosperous and intelligent counties, which 
elect a majority of the Senate of this Commonwealth, send to Harvard 
College fewer pupils than they return Senators to this Board. The 
counties of Worcester, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, and Berkshire, 
Norfolk, Bristol, and Barnstable, send this year, through the Senate, 
more Overseers to Harvard College than their constituents send of their 
sons. This desertion of the College, by half the Commonwealth, is 
most deeply to be regretted. The excellent apparatus for instruction, 
the scientific collections, the library, and the merits of the professors, — 
among whom are men venerable for their ability, learning, and consci- 
entious fidelity as instructors, — conspire to nourish the wish, that the 
resort to the College may be quickened. 



62 

The present year, the students from Massachusetts are but one hun- 
dred and eighty-four. Of these, one hundred and four are from Boston 
and its three suburbs of Roxbury, Cambridge, and Charlestown ; and 
but eighty from the rest of the Commonwealth. Leaving out of the 
account the three counties of Suffolk, Middlesex, and Essex, and all 
Massachusetts sends but twenty-nine pupils to Harvard College. Yet 
the Constitution of this State makes it the duty of the Legislature to 
cherish the University at Cambridge, in order that knowledge may be 
diffused generally among the body of the people. 

Two causes conspire to diminish the throng to Harvard College. An 
apprehension exists, that a sectarian character attaches to its govern- 
ment. Harvard College belongs to no sect. It is the child of the Com- 
monwealth. It is the house of learning which the people have erected, 
and which they have founded on the Constitution itself. No sect has a 
right to the possession of it. No party, religious or political, should 
control it. In the selection of its teachers, a single eye should be had 
to capacity and fidelity ; in the selection of the clerical part of the per- 
manent board of its overseers, ascendency should be given to no one 
religious denomination. Were every apprehension on this subject dis- 
pelled, it would go far tow^ards winning for the College universal confi- 
dence. 

The second cause of the diminution of public favor is the increasing 
expense of education at Cambridge. The habits of economy at a place 
of education are affected by the character of the collective body of the 
pupils. As expenses increase, the sons of the less affluent begin to 
remain away, and the absence of their influence aggravates the ten- 
dency to expensive gratifications. But the old-fashioned frugality and 
rustic simplicity are the best allies of discipline. The undersigned, as 
one of the Board of Visiters, is not prepared to confirm the remark, 
that, "in point of disposition to good order and assiduity in study, little 
more is to be hoped or even to be wished." There remains great room 
for desirable improvement, which would be promoted by the greater 
influx of recruits from the country, and from the families of the less 
wealthy. 

The expenses of tuition have been increased at least fifly per cent, 
beyond what they formerly were, and for some of the classes thirty- 
three and a third per cent, beyond what they were when the under- 
signed was a student. Yet the College has all the time been growing 
more opulent. The charge for tuition is greater at Cambridge than at 
those institutions where there are no endowments, and where the pro- 
fessors depend for their whole livelihood on their success in attracting 
pupils. It is preposterous to say that this is necessary. 

A diminution of the expense of tuition might bring with it, perhaps, 
a very small diminution of the number of those engaged in the govern- 
ment and instruction of the College ; and perhaps a slight increase of 



63 

duty to some who are now the least burdened ; yet not such an increase 
as would affect the character of their places as the most agreeable, 
most desirable, and least onerous in the country. Or it might leave 
some inconsiderable portion of their salaries contingent on the number 
of pupils whom they might draw around them. If so, it would only 
require them to share, in some little degree, the lot of every lawyer, 
physician, editor, and private teacher in the community. 

In regard to expense, the undersigned must add a reprobation of a 
practice of the College, of demanding from students admitted to an ad- 
vanced standing the tuition, in part, of the previous instruction, which 
they did not enjoy. In European Universities, such a thing, it is believ- 
ed, is not heard of. It is extortion, and ought instantly to be abolished. 

To give the Board an opportunity of expressing an opinion on the 
subject discussed in this report, the undersigned concludes by offering 
the following resolutions. 

Resolved^ That this Board do not advise an increase in the require- 
ments for admission to Harvard College. 

Resolved, That, in filling up vacancies in the clerical part of the per- 
manent Board, care should be taken to avoid giving a majority to any 
one religious denomination. 

Resolved, That the charge for tuition, in Harvard College, where most 
of the professorships are endowed, ought not to exceed the charge for 
tuition in those Colleges which are wholly or principally dependent for 
support on the tuition fees from students. 

Resolved, That, where students are admitted to an advanced standing, 
the Board do advise that no charge whatever should be made to them 
for tuition which they have never received. 

Resolved, That a special committee of three, from the Board, be ap- 
pointed by the nomination of the chair, to mature and report a plan for 
the immediate reduction of the expense of tuition in Harvard College, 
and that the President and Fellows of Harvard College be requested 
to cooperate with said committee. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 

GEORGE BANCROFT. 

Boston, January, 1845. 



Lest it should be suggested that full justice has not been done 
to Mr. Bancroft's statements and views, in the preceding Speech, I 
have deemed it proper to publish the above extract, which in fact con- 
tains the whole of the Minority Report, so far as it relates to Har- 
vard College. The part omitted being introductory, and relating 
to a controversy, of a somewhat personal nature, between Mr. Bancroft 



64 

and Mr. Morey, the Chairman of the Sub-committee of Visitation, 
it could not, with propriety, be retained and published, without also 
publishing a long letter from Mr. Morey, controverting the statements 
of Mr. Bancroft. As the subject of that controversy is not alluded to 
in the preceding- Speech, I have deemed it more proper to omit whatever 
related to it in the Minority Report 



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